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THE REPORT OF THE
LAWRENCE SURVEY

STUDIES IN RELATION TO LAWRENCE. MASSA-

CHUSETTS. MADE IN 1911 . UNDER THE ADVICE

OF FRANCIS H. MCLEAN BY ROBERT

E. TODD AND FRANK B. SANBORN

AT THE PROCUREMENT OF

THE TRUSTEES OF THE

WHITE FUND

LAWRENCE. MASSACHUSETTS
1912

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THE ANDOVER PRESS
ANOOVKR. MASSACHUSETTS

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262638

, Google

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CONTENTS

Introduction by Wilbur E. Rowell

The Plan of the Survey by Francis H. McLean

Topography of Lawrence by Arthur D. Marble

Letter of the City Engineer

PART L HOUSING CONDITIONS
By Robert E. Todd

Housing Conditions
The Early Houses
Future as City of Tenements
Fire Burden and Menace
Coming Conflagration
Houses Classified by Height
Huddle Fever
House Census
Land Occupied by Houses
Density of Population
Light

Sanitary Equipment
Tenement Maintenance
Building Regulations
Center's Future
Social Results of Bad Housing
The Remedy
Housing Legislation, Dire Need of

Page

31
33
35
39
48
49
50
58
60
61

65
67
81

87
108

III

115

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8 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Page

Housing, Miscellany and Tables 127

Persons in Apartments 127

Air Shafts — Small Rooms 128

Occupancy on Corner Lots 129

Open Spaces on Lots 129

American Woolen Houses 132

House Census 139

Materials and Location 139

Apartments, Number of 140

Building Inspectors' Record 141

Rents 142

Crowding in Apartments 143

Boarding and Lodging Houses 143

Sources of Information 144

PART II. PUBLIC HEALTH
By Frank B, Sanborn

Public Health

Conclusions 147

Recommendations 1 48

Relation of Milk to Public Health 150

Where Milk Sold in Lawrence Is Produced 152

Inspection of Dairies 153

Examples of Good Dairies 161

Examples of Faults in Dairies 167

List of Good Dairies 174

The Hood Farms 176

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CUiNTJiNTS

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Turner Centre Dairying Association

179

Milk Bottling Plants

180

Ice Cream Plants

i8s

Milk as Disease Carrier

187

Recommendations for Improving Milk Supply

188

Heating or Pasteurizing

191

Supervision of Bottling Plants

198

Inspection of Dairies

202

Laboratory Tests

204

Publicity and Prices

204

Organization of Producers

206

List of Producers

209

List of Contractors

214

Water Supply of Lawrence

217

Source

217

Filtration

217

Value of Pure Water

221

Sanitary Survey of 1850

223

Sewage and Garbage Disposal

225

.Outlets for Sewage and Manufacturing Wastes

232

The Spicket River

233

Garbage Disposal

236

Disposal of Store Wastes

238

Dumping Grounds for Refuse

239

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lo LAWRENCE SURVEY

Page

Board of Health 241

Duties of Board 241

The Lawrence Board of Health 242

Lawrence City Departments 246

An Efficient Board of Health 247

v/ Infectious Diseases by Wards 248

Diagram of Rate of Infectious Diseases 252

Diagram of Expenditures of City Departments 255

Map of Civic Agencies 258

Summary of the Report on Public Health 259

The Milk Supply 259

The Board of Health 262

The Population and Its Relation to Public Health 263

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THE REPORT OF THE LAWRENCE
SURVEY

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INTRODUCTION

By Wilbur E. Rowell

The City of Lawrence is essentially an industrial community.
It was intentionally created to be such a community. First came
the recognition by a land surveyor of the water power existing here
in the Merrimack river. Next was enlisted the interest of Boston
merchants and manufacturers. In 1845 was begun the erection
of a dam across the river. There was no village on the site of the
present city. The power was developed and factories were built,
and people came here to do the work of construction and operation.
It is not exactly true to say that the manufacturers brought people
here, either in the forties and fifties or in recent years. Oppor-
tunities were offered and people came. First came people of New
England birth, and English and Scotch workers skilled in textiles;
then came Irish, later French Canadians and Germans, and recently
people from the Mediterranean shores and Eastern Europe.

It is to be noted that the impulse for growth has never come
from within the city's own life; but always from abroad. Men
living elsewhere have built mills in Lawrence, and a population
has gathered and swelled in numbers to perform the labor of
carrying on the industries. Accordingly, the traditions and re-
sources of a self-contained, or self-sufficient society have never
been available in the development of the city. Whatever com- ',
munity good has been achieved has been such as a society of
working people could gain for themselves, under the favorable
laws and customs of this Commonwealth. Whatever may be
lacking is to some extent explained and excused by the same con- '
siderations.

Lawrence is like a great workshop, so to speak. It is not
the trading centre of a surrounding territory; nor the social centre
of outlying villages; nor the home of families who have won wealth
or culture in past generations. Many a city of half its size does
have all these characteristics; and it is obvious that they are
important elements in the common welfare of such cities. Law-
rence has always had the difficult problem of the conduct of
manufactures in a manner to secure prosperity on the one hand

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i6 LAWRENCE SURVEY

and the welfare of the working people on the other. The writer
likes to think that his city is working out a typical modern problem
for other communities as well as for itself ; that our trooibles and
our shortcomings are not due to peculiar faults of our own, but
belong to nearly every American industrial city; and that if one
has faith in the future of our country as a whole, he is entitled
to cherish the same faith in the worthy future of this city.

The following studies are intended as a partial self-examina-
tion, undertaken in the hope that better understanding may lead
to better achievement. The idea had been in the minds of the
trustees of the White Fund for some time when they found them-
selves able to secure the assistance of Mr. Francis H. McLean, then
Field Secretary of the Charity Organization Department of the
Russell Sage Foundation, now General Secretary of the National
Association of Societies for Organizing Charity. Mr. McLean
came to Lawrence in December, 1910, and laid down the plan of
the Survey. Mr. Robert E. Todd was secured to conduct the
examination of housing conditions. Mr. Todd brought to this
work the results of much experience in similar investigations else-
where, and an extremely wide and accurate knowledge of this
particular subject. The health investigation was conducted by Mr.
Frank B. Sanborn, Professor of Civil Engineering in Tufts
College. Prof. Sanborn had given special attention to hydraulic
and sanitary engineering, and had experience in similar investiga-
tions. Mr. Todd and Prof. Sanborn upon beginning their
respective tasks were given full and independent control of the
investigations which they conducted. The entire expense of the
Survey has been paid by appropriations from the White Fund.

It remains to give a brief account of the White Fund. One
of the men born on the farms that occupied the site of Lawrence
was Daniel A. White. His birth was in the year of the Declaration
of Independence. He was a graduate of Harvard College of the
Class of 1797. He was a member of Congress, and later for many
years judge of the Essex Probate Court. In 1852 he gave to
trustees a considerable tract of land, of which the site of the
present Public Library building is a part, to be sold so that the
proceeds should provide a fund for the maintenance of a course

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INTRODUCTION 17

of lyceum lectures. It is interesting to notice that Judge White

was seventy-six years old when he estabHshed this fund and that

he had Hved nearly all his life away from the town of his birth,

■ being then a resident of Salem. It was according to the best New

1 England traditions that he should feel a responsibility for the new

I city which was growing up about his birthplace, and should make

1 a generous provision for its welfare. The fund much exceeded

the needs of the lecture course; happily the founder foresaw this

possibility, and the trust contains the broad power to use the fund

" to promote the moral, intellectual and Christian advancement and

instruction of the inhabitants of the town of Lawrence.''

j The trustees of the White Fund with their terms of service

I have been as follows :

Charles S. Storrow^ 1852 - 1865

! Nathaniel G. White^ 1852 - 1886

Henry K. Oliver, 1852 - 1873

• George D. Cabot, 1865 - 1898

j James H. Eaton^ 1873 - 1901

Charles U. Bell, 1887-

WlLBUR E. ROWELL, 1899 -

Walter E. Parker, 1901 -

The lecture course was begun in 1864. The introductory
lecture was by Dr. James Walker, President of Harvard Univer-
sity; the other lecturers of that year were Rev. George Putnam,
Richard H. Dana, Jr., Rev. Joseph P. Thompson, Ralph Waldo
Emerson, and Oliver Wendell Holmes. While it is to be feared
that not every course has reached that standard, it is true that
eminent men have been heard in every year; and that courses
of a high degree of excellence have been of frequent occurrence.
Many undertakings for the public welfare within the terms of the
trust have received assistance from its funds.

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THE PLAN OF THE SURVEY

In the winter of 1910-11 the writer was requested by the Trustees
of the White Fund to recommend to them a certain line of social
inquiry, the cost of which would come within certain limitations fixed
by the free income of the fund. At the same time, though naturally
this has not been embodied in any formal action, he was informed that
dependent upon the values revealed in this investigation, might be
further action of the Trustees in later years, as their funds permitted
other investigations of a similar character. In other words, he was
made to understand that this proposed first inquiry, while self-
contained, need not be considered as the whole, but as part of a
possible whole yet to be created. Outside of these considerations no
limitations whatever were put upon the scope of the proposed investi-
gation, nor was the slightest suggestion made by any of the Trustees
as to the advisability of this or that field being omitted because of the
economic and social make-up of Lawrence. The only limitation in
fact was that the investigation should cover Lawrence and be for the
education of its citizens, thus coming within the provisions of the
trust imposed upon the trustees of the Fund.

Armed with such a carte blanche, so far at least as offering pro-
posals were concerned, it was evident that what was required was to
find some principles of elimination which would logically point out our
field. Much ground could be covered superficially, or a more limited
area with some greater degree of thoroughness. No other policy than
the last was thinkable, considering the circumstances. An educational
fund, such as the White Fund, could not publish anything which was
not thorough as far as it went.

Therefore it was evident that a search should be made for the
definite beginning point, and that proceeding along the road which
there lay stretched out, we should travel just as far as we could and
still see what in detail lay on both sides of the road.

Naturally the beginning point seemed to be some understanding
of topography and physical characteristics. Following that, those
conditions which affect all, or nearly all; and what could these be
excepting questions of public health and of housing. Housing is
mentioned apart from public health because it presents other problems
than the purely physical. In the first drafts of the plan submitted
there were schedules covering education and public recreation. But

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20 LAWRENCE SURVEY

it soon became evident that these could not be reached. This for the
reason that the extremely serious housing conditions, revealed by the
most superficial of observations, plainly indicated that a very highly
specialized and extensive investigation would here be required. In
the field of public health it was later revealed that as extenisve an
investigation would have to be made of milk, another one of the
fundamentals affecting all. Another fundamental, water, required
no such inquiry. So our fundamentals are housing, milk, water, other
general public problems, prefaced by a topographical sketch. So to
a later day must be postponed consideration of education, recreation,
child welfare, and so on along the line to living and economic con-
siderations.

But the foundations have been laid, and the fundamentals which
affect all community life, have been presented.

Two experts have been engaged in making the investigations
which are here presented. The soundness of their methods and the
scientific character of theil- researches are evident. So far as their
individual deductions or conclusions are concerned they stand essen-
tially as they have been presented and for their individual verity the
investigators themselves must be responsible.

In closing this introduction it is well to say that this is to be no
fruitless investigation, but that the first steps have been taken to form
the necessary organization to carry on the propaganda for the success-
ful attacking of those evils which these investigations reveal.

Francis H. McLean.

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TOPOGRAPHY OF LAWRENCE

Lawrence is situated on both sides of the Merrimack River, about
twenty-three miles from its mouth, in the heart of a fertile country,
wooded to perhaps lo per cent, of its area, within a raic^us of five
miles. The city is bounded on the north by Methuen, on the east by
the Merrimack and Shawsheen rivers, which separate the city from
the town of North Andover, on the south by Andover, and on the
west by Andover and Methuen. The territory of the city extends
about a mile and one-third north and about a mile and one-half south
of the Merrimack, and is about three miles in extreme width east and
west. The area is about 4577 acres, 2097 being south and 2216 north
of the Merrimack, with about 264 acres in the river itself. The
Shawsheen river, about fifty feet wide, which forms a part of the
eastern boundary of the city, winds gracefully through a wooded
defile, about twenty feet below the broad and gently sloping sandy
plain, which at an average elevation of fifty feet above sea level
stretches southerly from the Merrimack to the range of wooded hills,
extending at an elevation varying to 200 feet above sea level, along
the entire southern boundary. In the westerly section of this range
are located the quarries of gneiss which furnish the stone for the
foundations (and in one important case, of the superstructure), of
all the principal buildings of the city. This ledge which underlies the
whole ridge appears to terminate in an abrupt wall of rock some fifty
feet high, known as Den Rock, around which cluster many weird
legends.

The Merrimack, which is about 600 feet wide, is crossed obliquely
a little above the centre of the city by the great dam, 900 feet long,
and from near it run the two canals down along each bank of the river,
the lesser one on the south, the principal one on the north, furnishing
the water power for the mammoth mills which form the life of the
city. North of this canal in a valley something over a mile wide, and
averaging, like the plain on the south of the Merrimack, fifty feet
above the sea, is located the most populous part of the city. Bounding
this valley on the west rise the twin summits of Tower Hill to a
height of 245 and 248 feet above the sea.

This hill is in the line of the famous " Indian Ridge " which Dr.
Hitchcock particularly mentions, and which has been studied and
mapped for a distance of some thirty miles. The nucleus of this hill

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22 LAWRENCE SURVEY

as also of Prospect Hill on the east, belong to the " till " or ground
moraine, with superficial deposits of sandy gravel covering the whole
eastern slope to the summit. Extending to the north the valley termi-
nates at the foot of the more gentle slopes of Clover Hill, the summit
of which, 153 above the sea, has been called Sunset Ridge. On the
east is Prospect Hill, which attains an elevation of 190 feet above sea
level, with a moraine of sandy gravel covering its eastern slope.

The Spicket River, (about the size of the Shaw sheen) falling
forty feet in its course through the city, furnishing three mill privi-
leges (one of which has been purchased by the city) runs in an easterly
direction about midway through the northern portion of the city to
Prospect Hill, where it turns abruptly almost at right angles and
flows in a southeasterly direction along the foot of the hill, and
discharges into the Merrimack River about half a mile above the
mouth of the Shawsheen.

The surface of the valley is generally composed of drift deposited
several feet deep upon trap rock, which crops out above the general
surface in various places forming a line of low elevations extending
in a northeasterly direction from south of the Merrimack to the
abrupt bend in the Spicket at the foot of Prospect Hill.

The drift forming the surface varies from a coarse mortar sand
to a fine " quicksand " which tenaciously holds water, and forms a
treacherous material in excavation. This latter is particularly pre-
valent north of the Spicket, where the surface was formerly damp,
but which drainage has mostly dried up. Above the general plain are
here and there slight elevations, forming very desirable places of
residence.

Arthur D. Marble.

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LETTER OF THE CITY ENGINEER

To the Trustees of the White Fund :

In December, 1910, Mr. McLean asked me to answer cer-
tain questions, and I made a reply in March, 191 1, which I have now
revised at the request of Professor Sanborn. The original letter of
December 16, 1910, asked me to answer the following questions: —

(i) The engineering problems which will probably be solved
the coming year.

(2) The possible engineering problems of the future.

(3) Map showing the sewered and unsewered sections of the
city.

(4) Outline description of the general sewer system.

(5) Mileage of paved streets.

(6) Permanent sidewalks.

(7) Other important data.

The map you already have, answering No. 3.

I will not consider No. i, as too uncertain.

(2) The future engineering problems undoubtedly will include
the extension and improvement of the waterworks system. The
growth of the city will require an additional supply. This may come
from a source more remote than the Merrimack river, or it may come
from the improvement of the present filtration plant at the Pumping
Station. This improvement may be the covering of a part of the old
filter built in 1892, or it may be a new covered filter built in another
location. If the latter, then a concrete bottom could be laid in the
part of the old filter bed from which comes the most trouble on account
of the permeability of its present earth bottom.

These improvements or additions to the filtration plant will not
probably increase the purity of the water supply, but it may remove
some of the colo^ in the city water, on account of cutting off some of
the ground water which now finds its way into the old filter bed.

The covering of the filter would increase the amount of water
capable of passing through the bed, and prevent the freezing of the
surface in winter, thereby decreasing the cost of maintenance, and
allow of more frequent cleaning of the surface during cold weather.

The improvement in the Spicket river which was made during the
fall of 1910 eliminated the offensive condition of that river, so that
during the summer of 191 1 there were no complaints from property
owners because of foul odors along the banks of the stream. So long
as the river remains an open channel, constant and intelligent super-

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24 LAWRENCE SURVEY

vision will, however, be necessary to prevent its being made a dump-
ing place for all sorts of refuse by those living near to and on the
banks of the river.

It is quite possible that sometime in the future the river will be
walled and covered, and the area thus formed be made into a park.

Other engineering problems include the disposal of the sewage
of the city in some more sanitary and inoffensive way than discharging
it from open sewer outlets into the Merrimack river, which outlets
now are, at certain stages of the river, some distance from the thread
of the stream:

The abolition of grade crossings:

The construction of one or more bridges over the Merrimack
river :

The relocation of the railroad station in South Lawrence, con-
necting the same with North Lawrence by an electric car line, and
discontinuing the " cab " train :

The sewerage of the section of the city lying on the westerly slope
of Tower Hill, and the disposal of the sewage from the same so
as not to make it an offense to the citizens of the district and an added
pollution to our water supply.

The disposal of the surface water from this same section.
The sewerage of the southerly slope of Phillips Hill, and of the
valley of Cold Spring brook. These sections are separated by ridges
from the Merrimack river, and naturally drain into the Shawsheen
river.

The State Board of Health will probably not allow the sewage
to be discharged into the Shawsheen river, and the problem is how to
dispose of it at reasonable cost.

(4) Generally speaking, the sewerage of Lawrence is on the
combined plan. The outlets are chiefly into the Merrimack river, but
one main sewer discharges into the Spicket river.

There are also fourteen overflow sewers in the Spicket river,
which are only in commission during a heavy rainfall, and the matter
then discharged is almost entirely street wash.

Portions of the city, notably parts of Tower Hill, Prospect Hill,
and the valley of " Bloody " brook, are sewered on the separate system,
the surface water finding its way through street gutters to the nearest
water course or river. The separate system sewers cannot take care
of any roof, yard or other surface water.

The sewage from all the sewers is discharged in a crude state
into the river.

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CITY ENGINEER 25

(5) Street surface in Lawrence:

Granite block paving

9.18 mil

Asphalt

0.33 "

Wood

0.09 "

Brick

0.42 "

Macadam

25.10 "

Earth

7951 "

Total streets open about 114.63 miles

(6) Permanent sidewalks, principally of tar concrete, are laid
throughout the thickly inhabited part of the city. Of late, many walks
of cement concrete, commonly called granolithic, have been laid. The
city and the property owner share equally on the first cost of these
sidewalks, and the city bears the expense of all subsequent repairs.

(7) Under this number might properly be mentioned the Park
system. This was begun by the Essex Company by the gift of the
Common, which has an area of about seventeen acres in the very
heart of the thickly settled part of the city. Through all the years
since the early days, the Essex Company has from time to time given
areas for parks which are scattered all over the city. These include
Storrow Park in Ward one, 10.75 acres, the Amphitheatre, 7.5 acres,
in Ward five. Union Park, 11.25 acres, and Stockton Park, 0.4 acres,
in Ward six, and lately the bank of the Shawsheen river, 15 acres,
in Ward six, which we hope will eventually be transformed into a
beautiful parkway leading out to Den Rock, where the city has
acquired by purchase about eighty acres of wooded hills and river
valley, including the picturesque rocky cliff. In addition to the parks
above enumerated, there are the following:

Jail Park area 0.80 acres
Durant Park " 0.04 "

Pine Street Park " 0.03 "

Milton Street Park " 0.02 "

Crescent Park " 0.08 "

The last four items are triangular plots of ground at the junction
of various streets, which have been graded and curbed. There are
also areas for playsteads in Wards one, three, four and six, all of
which have been improved and graded, and some of them frunished
with equipment for the enjoyment of the children. Some of the parks
have also been equipped in the same way. Ward four has two play-

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26 LAWRENCE SURVEY

steads, one a large one suitable for ball-playing ,and one smaller, more
particularly for children's use.

To the problems of the future might be added the poles and wires
belonging to the public service corporations, and their proper regula-
tion and disposition.

A toppgraphical description of the city is included herewith.
Yours truly,

Arthur D. Marble, City Engineer
April 21, 1912

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HOUSING CONDITIONS

ROBERT E. TODD

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This examination includes in its census and
some other statistics all houses in the city, but
the rest of the inquiry does not include the
houses of Lawrence as a whole. Lawrence
has many good houses. The great majority
of those outside the center are such. Though
all defective houses are not at the center and
all center houses are not defective, the city's
pressing housing needs are at the center:
hence that is the field covered in this inquiry.
The exact scope of the examination is shown
in the diagram on page 54. In connection
with the description of the most important
conditions an estimate is made of the probable
extent of such conditions.

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HOUSING CONDITIONS

One of the former trustees of the White Fund, a banker and
a man who had the interests of Lawrence near his heart, used to
delight in speaking of the city as " a city of homes." This may
have been true a decade ago. It is evidently the fact now that
Lawrence is by more than one-half a. city of tenements.

But the term tenement should be given the arbitrary and
technical meaning described later. The essential idea in it is not
necessarily bad housing but the nearness of families under the
same roof; for, the word tenement, a "holding," and the word
apartment have meaning only as opposed to the complemental
idea that several families have quarters in the same house. It is
the nearness with the common use of space and other circumstances,
as well as the nearness of houses to each other, that needs to be
controlled by legislation. No greater need exists in Lawrence.

The Early Houses

It will be seen in the following paragraphs that the early
houses were nearly all small and that the large houses have been
built recently. While the work on the dam and canal were still
going on, as early as 1847, the mill owners began building houses
for the operatives and continued at intervals for about a decade.
Most of these houses were in brick blocks located along Canal
and Methuen Streets. Many of them have been supplanted by mill
warehouses, offices and other buildings, but about seventy-two are
still in use, though now largely owned by individuals. Most of
the houses are three stories high, but some of them have dormer
rooms on fourth floors. One square of forty two-story brick
houses whidh were built by the Lawrence Machine Company about
1847 2Lnd are still in use, are similar to that satisfactory type of
house which for years has been so popular in Philadelphia.

When the dam was being built, many of the laborers on it
lived in South Lawrence in the fields not far from the work.

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32 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Their small shacks or huts were built hurriedly of slabs and
rough lumber, with roofs of over-lapping boards, with sod piled
high around the walls, and with stove pipe chimneys. These
cabins stood for a good many years, but gradually their occupants
left, or bought a right to the locations; and the last two of the
shacks, occupied to the end, were torn down, one in 1894 and
the other in 1898.

In the same period houses of a different class were being

built in the districts to the east and north of the Common. They

were almost as small as the shacks, but much more durable and

/ with much better interiors. Usually each house had its own

garden, and each occupant owned a few goats, pigs and hens, and

•^ kept the rural habit of laying in such stores both of meats and

' vegetables as would carry the family through the whole winter.

^ Several of these houses, improved and well painted, indicate

present prosperity and comfort, and look like good homes; a few
remain in use unaltered; many have been moved to the rear of
the lot; some are vacant, or used as sheds; and many have been
torn down. In a few instances, two, three or four have been
moved up together, attached and extended, and make, as rented,
a most interesting jumble of tenements. There are still standing
at various locations, but not now in use, three or four peculiarly
long and narrow houses that at once remind one of houses seen in
Irish and English pictures.

Except those built by the mjllsj nearly all houses were made
of jvood. ..There were some wooden blocks, a considerable number
of double cottages and houses, and several of that type of four-
family double house of two stories with attic rooms which is so
common in most of the mill towns of New England. As late as
1875, the three-story houses were probably less than ten in
/number, though the population had reached 35,000. Between 1875

' and 1895 the three-story, flat-roof house began to be more common,

\ though its incoming was quite gradual.

There is one instance of a four-story frame house which is
said to have been built before 1850. But as late as 1895 there
were not more than six or seven of these houses without stores,
and about the same number with stores, making altogether less

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IHE NUMBER OF APARTK
Grouped for Each Year in Relatio

Illustrated b]
June I, 1906 to J

•«^19<]

1806^

In Houses of In Houses of In Houses of In Houses of

I and 2 Apts. 3 Apts. More than 3 Apts. i and 2 Apts.

1909

In Houses of
3 Apts.

In Houses of
I and 2 Apts.

In Houses of
3 Apts.

In Houses of
More than 3 Apts.

In Houiei
I and 2 A]

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[TMENTS IN NEW HOUSES

iTION TO THE THREE FAMILY HOUSES

id by Area.

to June 30, 191 1

I97««

In Houses of
More than 3 Apts,

1908

In Houses of In Houses of In Houses of

I and 2 Apts. 3 Apts. More than 3 Apts.

^> 1010 ^

uses of

In Houses of

In Houses

In Houses In Houses of

2 Apts.

3 Apts.

More than 3 Apts.

of I and
2 Apts.

of More
3 Apts. than 3 Apts.

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HOUSING CONDITIONS " 33

than fifteen four-story frame houses sixteen years ago. Since
then the number of these houses has increased rapidly.

The Future of Lawrence as a City of Tenements

The most common definition of a tenement house includes
every hou se which has three apartments or more. At <-1^^ prpgpnf
time Lawrence has:

17,988 apartments in 8,202 houses:

8,599 apartments in houses for one and two families .
9,389 apartments in houses with three or more families, y/
Forty-ei^ht per cent j)f j'_h.<^._fjr"Jligg-il^ J-^wr^ncc: ^rf living fn ^r*^
an d two- family houses ; the remaining; fiffy-^^^ p^^ ^^'^^ ^^^ living
in hou ses of three apartm ents or.moje.

The number and size of the houses which are now being
ereeted can be found in the records of the office of building
inspector which was established just prior to June ist, 1906. In
the five years and one month ending June 30, 191 1, there were
constructed :

3063 apartments in 1052 new houses:
735 in houses for one and two families 24.0 per cent

1335 in houses for three families 43.6 per cent

993 in houses for more than three families 32.4 per cent
In the accompanying sketch the capacity of these new houses is
shown as they have been built year by year. The number of tene-
ments which were constructed in old houses by additions and
alterations in the first four and one-'half years is 283.

Thus we see two facts: more than one-half of all families
are living in houses for three or more farnili^s;^ and ampng_the
new buildings the lar ge houses greatly predomin ate. Only about
one-fourth of the families that have been provided for in new
houses are living in one and two-family houses. In every one
hundred new apartments, seventy-six are being built in houses
of three apartments or more.

In other words, the character of the homes of the majority
of families is being rapidly and radically altered. This fact alone,
as a general statement based on the building operations for the
last five years, is abundant reason why the citizens of Lawrence
should be seriously interested to determine whether the changes

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34 LAWRENCE SURVEY

in forms of houses are good and suitable for the preservation of
that healthy family life, upon which the permanent welfare of any
community depends.

In considering this question, we must not be too easily
influenced by the fact that a large number of the three-family
houses located in districts outside of the center are good-looking
houses. This is only part of the story, and in Lawrence it is less
than half of it. Bad housing is not a question of averages and
majorities. The majority of the houses in a city may be excellent,
and the minority so exceedingly deficient as to be a grave peril
to the permanent welfare of the community.

The Number of Apartments at the Center

In Lawrence not only is there a rapid increase in the number
of families which are being provided for in the larger houses,
but there is steady growth in the process whi rh i.g rmwHing houses
toge ther at the center of the. city. In every loo apartments of
the city, 19 are located in South Lawrence, and 81 in North
Lawrence. In a central district bounded on the south by Essex
Street, on the east by Union and Garden Streets and the Spicket
River, on the north by Maple, Auburn, Cross, Broadway, and
Acton Streets, on the west by West Street, Bradford Place and
the railroad, there are ^00 acres. The congestion within this
central district, relative to the city's area and population, is most
remarkable.

For every 100 Acres in the districts named, there are
In the central district, 2,036 apartments

In the rest of North Lawrence, 443 "

In South Lawrence, 152 "

In other words, the density of apartments in the central district
is about four and one-half times the density in the rest of North
Lawrence, and more than twelve times the density in South
Lawrence.

Yet the houses are made of wood. The need for ceasing to
use wood for the houses at the center is very great. It is this
piling up risk upon risk that has made a national burden which,
though general, is nevertheless a very real burden. It is made
general by our arrangements for paying fire losses.

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FIRE BURDEN AND MENACE

What We Burn Each Year

The true character of the fire loss and the extent of its
burden upon us should be brought with such force to the con-
science of the intelligent citizens that they will at once bring
effective action for its reduction. We are extravagantly wasteful
of our social wealth and we need to be told it many times and
in many ways.

If a man were to sell all the property he had accumulated during his
life-time for about $20,000 in gold, put the gold in a basket, and, taking
passage on a steamer, drop it overboard in mid-ocean, there is no one
who would not say that the property was completely (wasted. When
property goes up in smoke, the loss is just as absolute; but by our arrange-
ment for distributing the fire loss over the ninety millions of persons
in the United States, it is not directly borne by any given individual, and
its true nature is not seen.

The fire game which we Americans are playing is a wonderfully great
game. Every man, woman and child in the country participates, but,
strange to say, few of us realize that we are in it. We all need to be
told hoiw it is played. Whether we carry fire insurance or not, we pay
landlords and merchants for carrying it. In effect, whether consciously
or unconsciously, whether willingly or unwillingly, it is as if each house-
holder in the country who is at the head of a family of four, takes a good
chair, or a serviceable bookcase, or six valuable books, or any other
articles that have a value of eleven dollars,* and goes every year to the
landlords and the merchants, with a statement, " Here is what we desire
to have burned up this year." They reply, "All right! We are a young
and rich country. The nation at large will see that your iwish is carried
out. But these goods are awkward to ship to the- nation's great tax-
gatherers, the insurance men. Give us, instead, eleven of your hard-earned
dollars." These dollars the landlords and merchants stamp " Money to
burn," and pass on to the insurance men. The insurance men are in a
ring. They throw the money in various piles within their circle and
stand guard over it. Up rush the Citizens called Unfortunate, Ignorant,
Indifferent, Careless, Fraud and Thief, each crying, " Hold, did you not
see that smoke? That was my building with all the contents. To be sure,
I built cheap. What of it? Everybody's doing that. Where is my share
of iwhat was set aside this year to be burned?" The circle of insurance
men send out representatives, investigate, judge the claims, and parcel
out the money. It's a great game.

♦The source for figures and quotations relative to housing conditions
are listed on page 143.

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36 LAWRENCE SURVEY

During each year for the last decade, this country has turned
into smoke $216,000,000, not including fire losses in forests, in
mines or at sea. These annual losses have increased in the last
thirty years 134 per cent, although the population of the country
has increased but 73 per cent. "If all the buildings burned last
year (19 10) in the United States were placed together on both
sides of a street, they would make an avenue of desolation reaching
from Chicago to New York, and, although one seriously injured
person were rescued every thousand feet, at every three-quarters
of a mile, a man, woman or child would nevertheless be found
burned to death." And it would take eighteen hours on the fastest
train, or five days of daylight by trolley, to view without stopping
this avenue of desolation and death.

Huge as that price is, it is not all we are paying for the use
of fire, for it costs money to fight fires. Thousands of men and
thousands of pieces of expensive apparatus are employed con-
stantly. In fire defence, this country spends yearly, by an authori-
tative estimate, $241,000,000, an expense that is entirely additional
to the $216,000,000 that is burned up each year.

The Fire Burden in Lawrence

Compared with other cities, Lawrence's record in the matter
of fires in the past is a remarkably good one in nearly all points,
such as confining the fires to the building or place of origin, number
of fires to 1,000 population, losses which are not insured, and the
average total loss by fire each year: though the record is slightly
less favorable in the cost of maintaining the fire department. In
each year of the decade ending December 31, 1909, the total loss
ill Lawrence has been $53,367, of which $49,975 was insurance
loss, and $3,392 was uninsured. Fifty-three thousand dollars is
a large amount of property to burn up each year. It is quite three
times the amount of money which Lawrence spends yearly for
the maintenance of the public library.

Yet this is only about one-quarter of the amount that fires
are costing Lawrence. The total amount of fire insurance
premiums paid each year, by an authoritative and conservative
estimate, exceeds $200,000. Because so many of the other cities

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FIRE MENACE 37

of the country, as well as Lawrence, have not been willing to
restrict themselves in the use of wood, Lawrence business men are
paying out every year more than $150,000 which is consumed
elsewhere in the country; and this waste is increasing at a very
rapid rate. It demands everywhere and particularly in the cities
of eastern Massachusetts a radical change from the present lack
of building regulations. Cambridge, Worcester and Lowell have
made a beginning.

The Four Story Wooden Houses

The most striking fact about houses in all cities in Massachu-
setts is that they are almost exclusively built of wood. Outside
of the center in a few cities, such as Boston, Worcester, Springfield
and Holyoke, practically all houses are frame. Building in
Lawrence goes to the extreme in this respect. Fully ninety-seven/
per cent of the houses in Lawrence are made of wood. Three-
story wooden houses with large floor areas unbroken by fire walls
are a constant menace to their occupants, no matter where in the
city the houses are located. When these houses are located at the
crowded center, they also magnify seriously the conflagration
hazard. This is equally true of all four-story frame houses and
in addition there is a greatly increased life risk for all who live
upon the fourth floor. They are farther from the ground, and
the speed and the volume of a fire can be very much greater than
it could be in a three-family house. Also the four-story frame
house is usually much weaker structurally than the smaller houses.
In fire insurance rating, houses of one to three apartments are in
one class, those with four to eiglit families in another. In
building practice in most cities four-story frame houses are
relatively very infrequent. Many cities prohibit them. There is
a concensus of opinion that they are dangerous, too dangerous to
be tolerated. They are especially dangerous in the congested
wooden center in Lawrence.

In the number of such houses which have been built, Worcester
and Lawrence exceed all other cities in Massachusetts, and the
condition in Lawrence is much worse than it is in Worcester.
Lawrence has 268 four-story frame houses, 216 of them located

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38 LAWRENCE SURVEY

in the central district of 300 acres, which is described elsewhere.
A majority occur in blocks where the three-story houses have
already crowded out most of the small buildings and where rear
buildings are the rule, some of them being four stories high.
Worcester has 120 four-story frame houses. Located on its side
hills, there are also 200 three-story and basement houses which
have four families, one above the other, or three families above
a store. They are not quite comparable with the four-story frame
house in that one end or one side is only three stories from the
ground. On the other hand they are much more dangerous than
the ordinary three-story frame building. With them included,
the number of these houses in Worcester is 320. They are,
however, scattered about the city, and are not in one relatively
small area as in Lawrence, and where they occur there is greater
distance between houses. Furthermore, four-story frame structures
are now prohibited everywhere in the city, and the three-story and
basement houses are not allowed to accommodate more than one
family on a floor, unless the building is provided with a brick wall
from front to rear, and from cellar to roof, with one apartment
on each side of it. Worcester has a central fire district which is
more than twice the area in North Lawrence which lies south of
the Spioket River and east of the railroad. Within it.no new frame
houses can be built. Additional to this there are two other fire
districts containing about 126 acres, where the three-story and
brick basement houses are allowed, provided they are placed no
nearer than seven feet to the side or rear line of the lot. Such
buildings must also have tar and gravel or slate roof.

Lowell has 140 four-story frame houses, which is a few more
than half the number in Lawrence. In August, 1906, Lowell
prohibited the construction of these houses anywhere and
established a good-sized fire district within which wooden buildings
may no longer be erected. Since Lowell ceased to construct this
form of building, Lawrence has built nearly one hundred.

There are three cities in the state which have smaller areas
than the 6.53 square miles in Lawrence, and all three cities have
greater densities of population. Lawrence has 13,210 per square
mile. Somerville's density of population is at the rate of 17,160

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FIRE MENACE 39

per square mile, and the city has not over 50 four-story frame
houses. Cambridge, with a density of 16,050 per square mile,
has no houses of this kind. Chelsea, with a present density of
14,420 per square mile, is not comparable, because the houses in
half its area have so recently been reduced to ashes. The dis-
tribution of the population in Lawrence is so uneven that at the ,
center the density is more than five times greater than it is in al|/
the city. Such center density is a result of four-story houses,
rather than a reason for them. With the 268 four-story frame
houses in Lawrence we should compare the number of such houses
in Fall River, 95; in Salem, 90; in New Bedford, 55; in Lynn,
less than 50.

The Coming Conflagration

The yearly fire loss in Lawrence, $53,367, serves well to
illustrate the tremendous loss in a conflagration. This is less than
a sixtieth of what was recently burned in Bangor in a few hours.
Chelsea burned two hundred and twenty-two times as much in
seven hours. It is in the daily fear of such disaster that many of
the citizens of Lawrence are living. As one prominent business
man remarked recently, " It hasn't come yet. But we will surely
come down to the center some day with the face of the earth
changed."

The sticks are all laid for a most superb bonfire. With the
prevailing winds as they are, from the west, and north of west,
a fire that originated in the vicinity of Broadway at any point
from Common Street to Cross, and broke from the control of the
firemen at a time when a measurably high wind is blowing, could
not fail to destroy the section north of Essex to the Common,
and, if the wind were from the west, could hardly fail to sweep
to the east around the Common to the Union Street district, and
possibly cross the Spicket River to the shingle roofs of the section
in the vicinity of Avon and Belmont Streets. Excluding, however,
the latter district, the area threatened is 300 acres, and contains
6108 apartments.

It should be noted that this central district, as described, does
not include the mercantile and mill buildings south of Essex Street,
and that additional values are there endangered.

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40 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Besides the large number of four-story frame houses at the
center, there were counted in the house census of this investigation
I, coo shingle roofs in this area of 300 acres. As a form of con-
struction, shingle roofs are quite comparable to paper hats as a
form of clothing.

" In the old days, roofs were covered with thatch. The process was
to thatch a roof, watch it dry and eventually try to stop it from burning
up. It was useless. We know that a thatch roof is not desirable. But
we progressed slowly. Our next idea was to use iwood in the form of
shingles. We .simply changed the rate of deterioration. Shingles dry
up and eventually burn. Some day we will learn that shingles should be
given up and placed in the museum with thatch.

" Have you ever thought of the first cost of a shingle roof? Then
have you added the cost of the upkeep? Have you added the cost of the
damages to materials under -that roof? Have you watched a shingled
roof catch fire? Or .seen the sparks fly to the next shingled roof? Or
realized that you were viewing a conflagration?

" Many people have. Many cities have gone through this experience.
The mayors telegraph for help. The papers are full of the pitiful details .
of homeless people, of wasted property, of appeals for subscriptions. A
conflagration is a terrible menace hanging over many cities and the
shingled roof is the main cause. The great fire in Chelsea, Massachusetts,
spread horizontally, from roof to roof (burning down) instead of from
wall to wall."

The report on the City of Lawrence made in July, 1908, by
the Committee on Fire Prevention of the National Board of Fire
Underwriters, says concerning the Valley Street and Lowell Street
district ; " The potential hazard of this considerable area of large,
compactly grouped frames is high. A fire once beyond the control
of the fire department would become a most serious conflagration.
The prevailing direction of high winds being from the west or
northwest under ordinary conditions, the principal mercantile dis-
trict would become involved and the mill district threatened. Even
with the efficient fire department, the abundant water supply at
moderate pressures and the good accessibility, the probability of
a large fire is great, due to the character of the populuation and
the extremely hazardous construction."

The habits of the population in the congested district, as well
as the lack of convenience in the houses, certainly add very
materially to the fire risk. The conditions which attend the use of

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FIRE MENACE 43

the cellar, especially in the winter time, illustrate this. The stairs
are frequently very narrow, winding, dark and, in a considerable
number of instances, broken. In some of the cellars artificial light
is absolutely necessary, and hence the striking of matches and the
carrying of lamps is very common. It is most frequently the
children who are sent to the cellar, and the load of fuel together
with the lamp, and the conditions surrounding its use, make a
daily risk that is excessive.

The presence of piles of inflammable rubbish in the cellar add
to the risk. Among the houses examined in six half blocks, an
average of one in six had a serious amount of inflammable
rubbish in the cellar. Where the condition occurs to the extent
shown in the photographs, there can be no question about the risk
involved. There surely need not be more than one such cellar
in each of the 160 half -blocks at the center to make a conflagration
hazard well worth periodic and efficient fire inspection. This the
city has not had, but should have.

Another illustration is the practice in lighting kitchen fires.
Many tenements are deserted during school hours. All the adults
work, arid the children below school age are left in other tenements.
Hence the kitchen fires are allowed to go out at least once,
and in many cases twice, a day. At the end of each morning and
afternoon, it is the school children who reach the house first, and
upon them falls the duty of starting the kitchen fire. Many of
them are not taught how to do it, and others are altogether too
young to be trusted to do it safely. Kerosene is used, and used
by very young children. In one apartment a small Italian boy not
over eight years of age was seen at the stove starting the fire.
He scratched so many matches and went so many times to a small
closet that the attention of the writer was finally attracted, just
as he was raising a can to pour oil into the open hole of the stove.
A shout stopped him and a glance into the stove showed red
embers. This youngster of eight years and his brother, not over
six years old, were alone in the tenement.

In Ohio and two other states, by legal enactment, the children
are being taught in the schools the causes of fires, the dangers in
handling materials, and what to do in time of fire. Lawrence

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44 LAWRENCE SURVEY

would do well to secure at once the introduction of similar
instruction in the public schools.

The Suffering Inflicted by a Conflagration

What conflagrations mean to the individuals who suffer in
them, we do not sufficiently consider. A former Lawrence citizen,
who passed through the Chelsea fire, afterwards described his
experience. Having taken some bundles to a distance, he returned
to his house for more. Soon a neighbor called to him, " Mr. B.,
are you in there? Come out as quick as you can. The next
house is all ablaze and your roof has caught." Mr. B. escaped
hurriedly, and, in referring to his loss, said : " No one, who has
not gone through the experience, can possibly realize what are
the sensations of those who were driven from their homes, and
lost all their worldly goods by the flames." He had no insurance,
and saved only a suit and a little other clothing.

The life risk in Lawrence is greater than it was in Chelsea.
In that city at the time of the fire, there was a density of popu-
lation at the rate of 16,880 per square mile. The density in North
Lawrence is at the rate of 20,732 per square mile, and in the 300
acres of the conflagration district, it is at the rate of 72,000 per
square mile.

At the time of the conflagration in Chelsea, the 275 acres
which were burned did not equal the present conditions in
Lawrence in the congestion of wooden buildings. The buildings
were not as high and they were not as near together. In Lawrence,
in the 216 four-story frame houses of the 300 central acres,
between 1800 and 2000 persons are living on fourth floors. As
shown elsewhere in the report, there are altogether too many
third and fourth floor apartments from which there is no
adequate second egress. This condition is most serious, and,
though the greatest risk involved is from fires that originate inside
the houses, the lack of egress greatly complicates and increases
\/ the life risk at the time of a conflagration. But the possibility
of safe exit is not the only factor in the probability of life disaster
in a conflagration. In the historic newspaper fire of the Spring-

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FIRE MENACE 45.

field Union, in which about eight persons lost their lives, most
of them perished because they were in such a condition of panic,
that no one thought to break the glass in an elevator door which
had blown shut and locked, and through which they might have
escaped to safety, as others before them had escaped. The safe
egress of everybody in a midnight sweeping conflagration might
possibly take place and yet hundreds be injured by returning to
their quarters at great risk with or without very much reason.
The natural instinct to try to save money, papers and various
articles, is, many times, responsible for more deaths than the
original condition of peril in which the individuals were.

The Chelsea fire began a little before eleven o'clock Sunday
morning, and yet nineteen people lost their lives. It is hard to
see how a conflagration in Lawrence, especially if it were to occur
at night, could have a loss of life less than that which took place
in Chelsea; and it might easily be many times greater.

Our Responsibility

Lawrence has never had any very large fire. The cojlapse
of the Pemberton Mill when eighty-seven persons were killed,
took place fifty-one years ago, and is not now remembered vividly
enough to stir anyone to action. In 1906 the roof of a new rink
fell in, just after a large crowd of spectators had left; and out
of its dust came the present inadequate building code. In this
record, the absence of any great fire has practically nothing to do
with the danger from a sweeping conflagration, and the reckless-
ness involved in continuing the present policy in the use of wood
at the center. Lawrence is in the position of the small boy who
repeatedly goes in swimming just above the dam. The argument
that the city has been getting along well enough under present
lack of restrictions is no better than the small boy's argument that
he has never been drowned yet. Is it probable disaster or possible
disaster which causes individuals to carry accident, Hfe or fire
insurance? The sum total of our lack- of real interest, as individ-
uals, in the welfare of the community in which we live is colossal.

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46 LAWRENCE SURVEY

We desperately need to be jeered at in the manner of a recent
newspaper editorial.

" ' We are greatly shocked,' volunteers the head of
the pulp and paper company whose dam, collapsing,
brought death upon Austin, Penn.

" A proper sentiment and typical. The American
people are most convincing in moods of amazement and
consternation. They are most themselves when they are
' greatly shocked,' which they are pretty frequently.

"Temperaments of less ardor and more calculation
than theirs do not shock so effectively, because they get
less exercise. Instead of celebrating calamity, less gifted
people merely prevent it. Such a people, for example,
would have heeded the first warning given by the Austin
dam last year. They would not have permitted a
moving picture of the deluge to be staged in a remote
Pennsylvania valley.

" It is left for Americans to know that in many
theatres exit doors open inward or are locked during
performances, and then to be greatly shocked when 587
persons are burned to death in an Iroquois fire; to know
that excursion steamers are often over-loaded, inade-
quately manned, insufficiently provided with fire-
fighting appliances, and then to be greatly shocked when
"a thousand persons lose their lives in a General Slocum
disaster; to know that many factory lofts are unprovided
with fire-escapes and factory hands unacquainted with
the fire-drill, and then to be greatly shocked when 145
girls are burned or crushed to death in an Asch Building
horror.

" By forestalling disaster the phlegmatic German and
the dull-witted Englishman may make life safer in their
jurisdictions; but that is dry, routine business that does
not appeal to American emotions."

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FIRE MENACE 47

Th£ Loss of Population and of Uninsured Property

The loss of population in Chelsea is interesting, as shown in
the five-year periods subsequent to 1895. After a gain in 1900 of
8.9 per cent, and in 1905 of 9.4 per cent, the loss in 1910 is 12.9
per cent. There is possible of course only speculation as to how
many persons would be forced to leave Lawrence after a sweeping
conflagration, but the extent of the risk should be considered.
In the central fire district mentioned, there are at least thirty
thousand persons who could be rendered homeless by a sweeping
conflagration. This would mean a very great loss of population
for a long period.

The fire report of the Underwriters says in a summary,
" Structural conditions are poor except in the manufacturing
district. The congested parts of the tenement district constitute
a high conflagration hazard." The report concludes with the
recommendations :

" That a complete building code be adopted.
That the fire limits be extended.
That the 'construction of frame tenements over three

stories in height be prohibited.
That incombustible roof coverings be required on all

new or repaired buildings.'*

About $3,000,000 of the $12,000,000 loss in Chelsea was not
paid back in insurance. Is the amount daily in jeopardy in
Lawrence much less than $10,000,000, and would the uninsured
loss be much less than one-quarter of that sum? Can Lawrence
afford to continue to add daily to this great risk?

Concerning the city of Chelsea, the authentic insurance report
of the conflagration said, " Chelsea openly acknowledged a de-
plorable condition of affairs, and yet nothing was done to
improve it."

What will the record of the business men of Lawrence be?

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48 LAWRENCE SURVEY

NUMBER OF HOUSES CLASSIFIED BY HEIGHT IN STORIES

LOCATION HEIGHT BY STORIES

NORTH LAWRENCE Front or ^ One and t Two and t, = c-

Re« 0"« one-half ^^"^ one-half ^^^ ^""^ ^"'

SBC.

A West of R. R. Tracks . . . F 4 312 232 486 225 18

R I 75 21 30 24 2

B R. R. Tracks to Lawrence St. . F 5 375 156 679 735 no

R 4 108 41 66 64 25

C I.Awrence to Prospect . . F i 266 169 695 392 104 i

R I 68 30 46 38 24

D East of Prospect St F o 277 149 198 82 o

R o 16 10 6 30

Total Front Houses . . . 5671 10 1230 706 2058 1434 232 i
Total Rear Houses . . . 703 6 267 102 148 129 51 o

Total for North Lawrence . 6374 16 1497 808 2206 1563 283 i

LOCATION

HEIGHT BY STORIES

SOUTH LAWRENCE Front or p.

Rear ^*^

One and -r.^
one-half ^^°

Two and
one-half

Three

Four

Fiv

SEC.

West of Southern Div. R. R.

Tracks F

166

159

Southern Div. to Western Div. F

167

112

East of Western Div. . . . F

232

146

400

155

Total Front Houses . . . 1709

56s

194

671

265

Total Rear Houses . . . 119

Total for South Lawrence 1828

624

208

698

281

Totals for the City . F

1795

900

2729

1699

242

326

116

175

2121

1016

2904

1844

293

SUMMARY OF TOTALS

Front Houses .... 7380
Rear Houses . . . . 822

8202

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HUDDLE FEVER

The increase in urban population, everywhere a matter of
common knowledge, is especially noteworthy in the cities of
Massachusetts. In 1875, only thirty-five years ago, 620 out of
every 1000 persons were living in towns and cities of less than
30,000: whereas the census for 1910 shows that now 620 out of
every 1000 are living in cities of more than 30,000.

Simultaneously the tendency to crowd people onto land at the
center of a city is universally increasing. The never ending
seesaw on each lot between new, high sale-price and increased
amount of rent goes on steadily, though by jerks, like a cutter
across bare ground. The increased amount of rent of course
usually comes from a larger number of persons using the land.

The forces impelling the congestion are exceedingly strong
and with their results, seen everywhere in the hundreds of
families crowded together in the beehives at the centers of the
cities, make a condition that must increasingly come to be viewed
as abnormal, unnatural, a social disease rightly to be called by
some such term as huddle fever.

In many cities in Massachusetts these forces have been placed
under almost no legal restriction. In other cities the few restric-
tions that have been established are pitifully inadequate. Disorder
and chaos prevail. The progress toward wretched conditions is
rapid and demands immediate restraint. Such measurements and
equipment as will produce good living conditions for healthy and
contented family life must be set up as legal standards, and it
ought to be impossible for any builder to go below them. The
need for public intervention is seen to be all the greater when we
contrast the interest of builders with the interest of the public.
Those who build houses in quantity receive their reward within
a few months or years. Their interest is relatively momentary.
Yet the living conditions which they create continue in use for
50 to 80 years, and sometimes for more than a century.

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THE STUDY OF LAWRENCE BY
A HOUSE CENSUS

For an adequate study of the congestion
in Lawrence, a special house census was made,
and the figures secured are the basis for the
following sketches. In the first one, the average
number of apartments per acre is given for
thirteen special sections of the city. In general
these sections comprise the blocks which have
the largest number of apartments in a particular
locality. The second and third sketches make
a study of density by half-blocks for the three
sections nearest the center of the city, namely,
those which appear in the first sketch with the
averages 69, 60 and 49.

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THE AVEBAQE NUMBER OF APARTMENTS PER ACRE

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LAWRENCE SURVEY
The Investigation of Houses

The two districts, A and B, are in a middle zone lying
between the center and the outskirts, where several blocks are
badly congested but most of the blocks are not. The central
district, bounded by the broken line, contains the 300 acres that
have been described. The six half-blocks, in solid black, represent
the center and its future. In the point of crowding houses
together, they are among the worst twelve in the city. They were
chosen on that account. It should be noted how they are dis-
tributed around the center.

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THE COMMON
STREET

Two Half-Blocks

They contain the
greatest congestion of
population in wooden
houses on any three
acres in the state of
Massachusetts. .No three
acres exceed these ex-
cept at the infamous
center of Boston where
the houses are nearly
all brick.

In the rear houses,
those at the right in
this picture, the best
light comes from an
alley fourteen feet wide.

LOOKING EAST INTO THE CENTER OP ONE HALPBLOCK

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THE ALLEY SIDE OP THE HALF-BLOCK WEST OF NEWBURY STREET

These two half-blocks located on the south side of Common Street east from
Jackson Street contain 2. 2 acres with one-half the surrounding street space
included. An adequate idea of the narrow spaces, dark rooms and other
conditions can be secured only by seeing them. But from the foregoing pictures
it is possible to judge partially, especially if one imagines himself standing in
among the houses. The open spaces shown in the first two pictures are those
between front and rear houses at the center of the lots. The slits in the picture
above is all the space there is at the sides of the houses.

The houses are so close in these half-blocks that it is said
to have been the practice of one agent to collect rents at the third
and fourth stories by reaching out into the apartments on the same

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58 LAWRENCE SURVEY

floors of the next house. Thus he saved himself trips above the
second floor. One instance occurs where, by reaching out the
kitchen window, four or five kitchen utensils are regularly hung
on nails which have been driven in the side wall of the neighbor's
house. As a matter of fact two or three houses occupy so fully
the lots on which they stand that there is not room to place a
garbage can on the same lot with the house.

These buildings are exclusively used for dwelling with the
exception that the majority of the front houses have stores on the
first floor, and as indicated in the sketch which follows there is a
small group of one-story stores and a small shop. Except two
brick houses and one concrete house all the houses are of wood.

The Amount of Land Occupied by Houses

At the east end of Common street the overcrowding is
duplex, — houses on land and persons in apartments. The latter
form is described elsewhere. In the other four half-blocks the
densities of population in 191 1 were due chiefly to the number of
houses on the land, and these half-blocks represent more of the
center blocks than do the two on Common street.

In ascertaining in the six half-blocks examined what pro-
portion of a lot is occupied by a house or houses, the computations
that were made used the dimensions of the house at the second
floor. Thus the areas of the houses do not include one-story
buildings or extensions. A house that is not on a corner lot ought
not to occupy as much as 70 per cent of its lot. The following
are the facts as they exist in the interior lots of the six half-blocks
examined. The amount of land occupied is :

less than 70 per cent in 22 lots

70 to 7^5 per cent " 7 "

75 to 80 '' " "is *'

80 to 90 " " '' 10 "

more than 90 per cent " 2 "

Thirteen of the twenty-two where less than 70 per cent is
occupied are on Oak and Oxford streets. In the four half-blocks
on Valley and Common streets, among the thirty-seven interior
lots only nine have less than 70 per cent. This is extreme
congestion.

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Actual
Density

Estimated
Deatity

556

603

439

462

2>^7

348

322

342

287

303

243

266

60 ' LAWRENCE SURVEY

The Density of Population in the Six Half-Blocks
With the following figures concerning the number of persons
living in the six half-blocks, there is a second column which gives
an estimate of the probable density at times when there is regular
employment, for in the spring of 191 1 the number of vacant tene-
ments was unusually large.

The number of persons per acre :

1. Common Street S. side E. fr. Newbury

2. Common Street S. side W. fr. Newbury

3. Valley Street S. side E. fr. Franklin

4. Valley Street S. side W. fr. Franklin

5. Oak Street N. side W. fr. White

6. Oxford Street W. side N. fr. Essex

All Lawrence citizens who go to New York by rail pass in
front of thirty blocks situated along Park Avenue from 125th Street
Station to the entrance of the tunnel at i loth Street. Among the
houses seen the five and six story predominate. They appear oppres-
sively high and close together, and the streets are crowded. It
would seem scarcely possible that any congestion in Lawrence would
be comparable with the congestion in those blocks. Yet according
to the 1910 Census there are only three of those thirty blocks which
have a density of population greater than 600, and only seven
others greater than 462.

Semi-Darkness

The rooms which are lighted from other spaces than the
side courts are described elsewhere. The following is the state-
ment for the spaces at the side of the houses, and it has to do
solely with rooms for which the chief source of light is a window
with the location described.

Window No. of rooms
On the lot line 58

Less than i foot from lot line 70

1 to 2 feet from lot line 163

2 to 2.y feet from lot line 145
2.y to 4 feet from lot line 131

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LAWREXXE SURVEY
SUMMARY OF RATES OF RENT PER ROOM PER WEEK

Rates Common St.

in No. of Per
CenU Apts. Cent

Valley St.
No. of Per
ApU. Cent

Oak St.
No. of Per
Apts. Cent

Oxford St.
No. of Per
Apts. Cent

Less than 40 2

.OI

5 .036

14 .152

6 .10

40-50 5
50 60 30
60-70 40
70-80 46

.025
.149
.189
.228

22 .159
85 .616

23 .167
3 -021

19 .203
28 .304
26 .283

7 117
19 .316

24 -4
I .016

80-90 35

•174

4 -043

9095 43

.214

I .011

3 -05

138

On Common Street 61 per cent have rates greater than 70 cents.
On the other streets 92 to 9S per cent have rates less than 70 cents.

PERCENTAGE OF LOTS OCCUPIED BY THE HOUSE OR
HOUSES ON INTERIOR LOTS IN SIX HALF BLOCKS

Number of Less than Per cent Per cent Per cent Per cent
Lots 70 per cent 70 to 75 75 to 80 80 to 90 90 to 100

Common St. (south side)

East from Newbury (CiiK)

West " '* (C12K)

»3

Valley St. (south side)

Fast from Franklin (B16K)

West " " (R17K)

Oak St. (North Side)

West from White (B43L)

Oxford St. (West Side)

North from Essex (A52M)

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LIGHT 6i

Among the fifty-eight rooms Hghted from a window on the lot
Hne, thirty-five are in rear houses, and in such houses the best light
in any room is from an alley.

All of the facts about the open spaces show the variant,
irrational and low standards which have prevailed. They spell
a gloomy future for the working people in Lawrence ; for a proper
amount of light is a prime requisite in any apartment that is
worthy of the name home. But it is no mere prospect that is
confronting them. The hardship of living in gloomy and dingy /
homes is already theirs; for one of the most noticeable results oy
house crowding in the center of Lawrence is the excessively large
number of dimly lighted rooms.

The typical light condition in these apartments may be
described as follows. Eighty-three per cent of the apartments
have either four or five rooms, and in most of them the kitchen,
which is unusually large, is located in the center of the floor space.
In the apartments of the front house, one or two rooms are well
Hghted from the street; the kitchen receives but little light; and 7
the two rooms at the rear are almost as poorly lighted because
of the lack of space between front and rear houses. This is
just as true of the front rooms in the rear houses, because they
have the same source of light. The kitchens in the rear houses
are also entirely inadequately lighted. Many of the rooms which
open upon the alley are not well lighted, although in others the
amount of light is fair at present, because there is not yet a high
building on the rear of the lots across the alley.

The rooms which were examined in the matter of light are
grouped below according to the location of the window which
is the chief source of light for each room.

Source of light Number of rooms
Street 497

Alley 386

Yard 574

Side court 720

Outer court 85

In giving to each room that was visited a grade according
to the amount of light in it, a definite meaning was assigned to

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62 LAWRENCE SURVEY

each grade and that method is the basis for the following summary.
TJiere are 342 rooms in which it is not possible to read except
*^ithin a foot or two of the window. There are 561 other rooms
where it is difficult to read on the side of the room opposite the
window and where also protracted eye work in any part of the
room is dangerous for the majority of persons. There is a
satisfactory amount of light in only about fifty-nine per cent of
the rooms. There are 31 apartments in which no room has a
satisfactory amount of light.

What these dim tenements mean to their occupants is partly
shown by two casual comments made by women at work in
kitchens. One woman looking up from the peculiar, double-ended
wash tub which the Italians use remarked, " Don't know what I
am doing. Can't see much." Another mother whose little child
was walking around against her wish commented, " Windows no
good. Baby won't stay here in the kitchen near the fire."

It is doubtful whether architects and builders have sufficiently
considered the financial disadvantage there is in dimly lighted
tenements. There is a constant loss of income in the worst houses
in Lawrence. In the two half-blocks at the east end of Common
street, in a total number of thirty vacant apartments, twenty-two
were located on the first and second floors where the light is the
least. It is evident that, when tenements are not in great demand,
the dimly lighted quarters on the lower floors are abandoned.
Smaller tenements with better light would yield an equal or a
larger income than do these dimly lighted houses.

Nearly all factories now being constructed are given a great
abundance of light, in the belief that any lack of light results in
a reduction of the quality or quantity of the work in them. The
same standard for the homes of the workers ought to be con-
sidered commercially advantageous, — not to the builders, as such,
but as a matter of general public policy. The efficiency of workers
is constantly being reduced by the impaired vision and permanent
/injury to their eyesight that is one of the results of their living
in darkened houses.

The newspapers have at various times in the past urged that
the industries of the city should be diversified, and that one of the

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LIGHT 63

natural developments would be to secure the incoming of clothing
factories. The products of the woolen and worsted mills are now
transported to New York and Rochester, and there made into
clothing. The question raised is, why the products of the woolen
and worsted mills should not be used in Lawrence? If Lawrence
were to have clothing factories, with the usual accompaniment of
sweat shops in tenements, . the present houses are so wretchedly
lighted, that the resulting conditions would need another Dante
to describe them properly.

From Darkness to Death

There are numerous kitchens and other rooms which have
a most generous supply of glazed area in the windows, and yet
artificial light is absolutely necessary, whenever any work is being
done. In some of these rooms lamps are kept burning constantly.
The majority of the rooms located at the centers of the buildings
require artificial light when the sky is fully clouded. This means
inconvenience, loss of time, and expense. It also means suffering
and danger from disease. We need again and again to consider
seriously the chain of the D's, in order to feel that they do lie
bound together in a CHAIN: Darkness and dampness and dirtp^
dirt and discomfort and disease; death. The following is one of
the memorandums made on an inspection card. " Mother coughs
and looks tubercular; just back from hospital; there three months
after child-birth. Kitchen dirty and black dark; lamp burning
on stove at midday, March 4th. Same March isth." This is a
new house, less than three years old, and the kitchen has abundant
window area.

In the most recent report of the state inspectors of health of
Massachusetts the comment is made concerning cases of tuber-
culosis in two mill cities : " Many tenements were found from
which cases of tuberculosis were frequently reported." Concern-
ing a certain tenement quarter in another city the report says:
" In looking over a list of deaths from tuberculosis, and the
residence of the patients, it was discovered that a large number
of persons were found to have died at the same street number,
some of the same family name, showing by the dates that one had

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64 LAWRENCE SURVEY

taken the disease from another. Many were found at the same
number with different names, thus giving rise to the question
whether the persons may have contracted the disease from the
bacilli left in the house by former patients." Tuberculosis is
already costing Lawrence dearly, and a toll of about 150 lives
yearly. Thousands of dollars are being spent in Massachusetts
for the cure of this dread disease. Wise business policy for a
successful city, and the public's need for conditions that produce
health, not that destroy it, demand that we place an awakened
and intelligent valuation on these dimly lighted tenements. It
ought no longer to be possible to build them.

WiNDowLEss Rooms

There were fifty-nine rooms examined which have no windows
to the outside air.

In the six half -blocks, there are four rooms which have no
windows whatever, eight rooms with transoms only and 21
other rooms which have no windows to the outside air, but inter-
communicating windows to rooms or halls. Among these 33
rooms, 25 were used as bed-rooms, four as kitchens, and four as
store rooms. In the two districts, there were examined seven
rooms without any windows whatever; and nineteen rooms with
no window to the outside air, but small windows communicating
to halls or rooms. Many of the interior windows are immovable.

When windowless rooms are used as bed-rooms the kind of
use they commonly receive may be illustrated by the description of
one of them. In it there slept regularly a father, mother and a
three year old girl in a three-quarter bed, and two boys in a crib.
Two weeks previous to the visit an eight months old baby had
died. The mother was still grieving over the loss, and with
apparent unconsciousness of the inconsistency in her ideas, stated
that the baby had always slept in the same room with the rest,
that from birth he had been the strongest of her babies, and she
wondered why he had died.

If fifty-nine windowless rooms were seen in this examination,
Lawrence must have a good many more than that. When the
intelligent citizens have seriously considered how these rooms are

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SANITATION 65

usually used and what culture bins they can become, pushing on
through the years and piling up ill-health and death, suffering and
expense to thousands, and great, expense to the city, they will not
submit to the continuance of building regulations that permit the
construction of such houses.

Sanitary Equipment

The following are the facts concerning the sanitary equip-
ment and arrangements as found in the six half-blocks. There
is in every apartment a sink and a supply of city water. In five
or six apartments on upper floors tenants complained that they
could not secure water when it was being drawn on the floor
below, — due probably to pressure reduced within the house by old
or small pipes. The general condition in this respect is one in
which the city may well take much pride. The fact that all the
houses are connected with sewers is good reason for further
satisfaction. There are very many cities in the country that are
not to be compared at all with the New England cities in these two
particulars, water supply and sewers, and among the New England
cities Lawrence is at the front.

Judging by the six half -blocks, the bath-tubs and wash-tubs
at the center of the city are few. In the Common, Valley and
Oak Street half -blocks one apartment in nineteen has a bath-tub.
In the Common Street half -blocks there are fourteen, nearly all
at the west end; in Valley Street, nine, and in Oak Street, four.
In the Oxford Street half-block one apartment in two has a tub;
twenty-six of them being old pattern tin tubs encased. A con-
siderable number of all the tubs have only one faucet, and a
number of those that have two faucets and that are new are not
connected with hot water, because the tenants say they cannot
afford it. One apartment in fourteen has a wash-tub. They are
distributed as the bath-tubs, except that the Oxford Street half-
block has fourteen.

All the houses have water closets inside the house ; and twelve^
out of thirteen of these closets are located within the apartmenf^
All closets not located within the apartment are in public halls
adjoining the apartment, there being no basement or cellar closets

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66 LAWRENCE SURVEY

/ w

n these six half -blocks. Among 132 houses, there are only four
where two families are using one closet. This is a remarkably
good showing. There are probably few cities where the houses
are better equipped in the number of water closets.

It is much to be regretted that the amount of light in the
water closets is not greater. Nine per cent of the closets are
supplied with artificial light at night. Four per cent more have
sash doors, which admit some secondary light at night. In eight
per cent, there is practically no daylight whatever. In eighteen
per cent more, it is not possible to see such obstacles as pails. In
twenty per cent more, it is impossible to see whether the floor is
clean or dirty. Altogether forty-six per cent have insufficient
daylight.

Many of the old closets are encased in wood, and the con-
ditions behind the casings are not right. In a considerable number
which were malodorous, the very apparent source was not
accessible.

The houses which have ash chutes number on the average
one in four.

Among 23 yards which are regularly used as passage-ways,
eight are not paved. Among 34 side courts similarly used, there
is no pavement in 11.

Conditions Within the Apartments

In grading occupied rooms according to the condition of
cleanliness, it was noted that there are a smaller number of very
clean apartments in Common Street than in the other half -blocks.
So far as very dirty rooms are concerned, the six half-blocks do
not differ from each other materially. The figures show that they
all have relatively about the same number. About seven per cent
of all apartments seriously needed much cleaning, and five other
apartments were in wretchedly filthy condition.

There is wide contrast in the facts that cause these dirty tene-
ments. In some where there are several boarders and children, the
women work hard and still are always in dirt. In others the women
seem to let dirt accumulate in order to be able to clean it up at their

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SANITATION 67

This water-closet is so constantly wet that cement is used to keep the
water from passing under the matched board partition across the kitchen
floor. The floors and bases of most water-closets ought at least to be kept
well painted. Many ought to have a floor of some other material than wood.

Special cleaning seasons. A few of the families are poor creatures,
dependent and on the verge of degeneracy.

The largest number of water closets with wet floors and the
greatest amount of dirt on the floors occurs in the half-blocks at
the east end of Common Street. Among 128 water closets where
there was a considerable amount of water on the floor, 91 are
located in those half-blocks. This is thirty-eight per cent of all the
closets there. Many of them had old wet, rags and paper; some
were so foul smelling as to be nauseating; and dogs were kept in
two. In the other four half-blocks thirteen per cent were wet
and dirty.

Overcrowded Communal Apartments

The great density of population iii the two half-blocks at the
east end of Common street is due to the over-crowding of apart-
ments as well as to the crowding of houses upon the land. The

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68 LAWRENCE SURVEY

prevailing arrangement of four bedrooms around the kitchen not
only furnishes economy in fuel expense, because all bedrooms can
be heated from the kitchen, but also makes easy the use of the
/apartment by several families. In these two half -blocks, in three
of every five tenements, there were more than one family; in one
tenement of every five, there were more than two families. Six
apartments of five rooms each had fourteen persons each; and in
one apartment of five rooms there were eighteen. Fifteen apart-
ments had three or more families and also an average of three or
more persons per room, excluding the kitchen. Seventy-three per
cent of the population of these two half-blocks were Hving in 117
apartments where the average number of persons per room exclud-
ing the kitchen is more than two. This proportion in the other half-
blocks is, in Valley street 40 per cent, in Oak street 37 per cent, in
Oxford street o per cent. In 120 apartments where there were
more than one family, there were 1,152 persons, 202 of them un-
married boarders. The foregoing figures were taken at a season
when the mills were running on part time. Nearly all of those who
live in these two half -blocks are mill workers.

The manner of living at the east end of Common street differs
/materially from that in the houses of the other half-blocks. Many
of the bed-rooms are kept locked, the key being carried away by the
occupants. The money paid to the family who rents the tenement
is rent only and does not include board. Sunday and holiday meals
are cooked and eaten separately. Usually the woman who rents
the apartment cooks one meal a day for the others, but the food for
this meal is furnished separately by the couples or families and is
usually eaten separately.. The other meals are purchased, prepared,
and eaten separately. Such small stock of food as is carried from
one meal to another is frequently kept in the bed-room. That the
dirtiest water closets seen in Lawrence were in these apartments,
is probably due to the fact that it is felt by all occupants, that the
water closet is a community convenience and that no one person,
not even the one who rents the tenement, is wholly responsible for
its condition.

It is said to be the practice with some landlords in these two
half-blocks, when the work is plentiful and the tenements are

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MAINTENANCE 69

crowded, to make the amount of rent collected depend upon the
number of persons accommodated in the apartment.

Among other serious disadvantages in these communal apart-
ments, two may be mentioned: the absence of reasonable privacy^/
since all the bedrooms are heated from the kitchen, and the universal
absence of bath-tubs. Such lack is bad enough in any apartment;
but, where the tenement is used by three or four families and
there is no heat in the bed-rooms, the confusion and inconveniences
make bathing most difficult.

One of the worst conditions that is found in large cities is the
makeshift tenement which is made by cutting off space at the rear
end of the store with dwarf partitions, curtains, etc. The combina-
tion of dark rooms, no ventilation, food for sale, and frequently
dirt and children, together with flies in season, makes a most deplor-
able condition. Two such quarters were found in February at the
east end of Common street. Each store, and, in one of them, two
children, were in the care of a man who stated that he could not get
work but his wife could. Lawrence would be in a wretched state,
if the city officials could complacently allow such overcrowding.
Evidently this is realized; for, less than two months later, these
stores had been vacated and most of the partitions removed. It is
to be hoped that, with a rejuvenated city government, other investi-
gations will not be necessary to keep such conditions permanently
out of Lawrence.

Defective Maintenance

The conditions of cleanliness and repair in public halls were
marked with gradations that had definite meaning. This scoring
makes possible the following statement. Twenty-seven per cent
of the houses had main halls and stairs which were excessively
dirty. Rubbish, ashes, garbage and litter were found in them, ai^
in most of them black dirt gummed down indicated that the floor
had not been washed for many months. The dirtiest of the halls
and the largest number of them are in the houses at the east
end of Common street. In several of these houses the landlords
themselves are living, but into certain others the present landlord
has perhaps never entered. Apparently there is almost no attempt

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70 • LAWRENCE SURVEY

to'-

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sly
the
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ing
in 25 per cent, ana wmtewasning
in 66 per cent.

Scoring for the walls of rooms, made conservatively, shows
that the walls in 13 per cent of the rooms are in need of repair.
The largest proportion of such rooms are in a Valley street half-
block and the smallest proportion in the Oxford street.

The cellar floors were wet in thirteen houses. The roofs
were in bad repair in five. More than half the pitch roofs and
a few of the flat roofs have seriously broken eaves and leaders, or
none. This is the more serious, because of the lack of pavement
in the yards and side courts and because so many of these spaces
are used as passageways. Some of the courts and yards have
pavement in bad repair. At the time of steady rain many pave-
ments hold puddles to be crossed, or are so graded that they throw
small brooks across the street walks for pedestrians to wade
through; for almost none are sewer connected.

Two defects in water closet plumbing were the most
common. There is frequently a leak at the bottom of the flush-
box where the flush-pipe joins it. This usually results in a steady
dribble of water down the outside of the flush-pipe onto the floor.
The galvanized two-inch pipe that ventilates the water closet bowl
is rusted out in many closets at the point where it joins the bowl.

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This is the
passageway to
the street from
eight apart-
ments in one
rear house and
three in an-
other. Pave-
ment is dished
and not con-
nected with the
sewer. It is im-
possible to use
without wetting
the feet, — as
the mother and
child are doing.

The steps are front entrance of the eight-family rear house. At its corner
in the upper picture a boy is standing.

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72 LAWRENCE SURVEY

In some bowls this gives at times a quantity of water as overflow
out of the bowl. In several closets this pipe is completely dis-
located and the value of the vent destroyed.

In a total number of 70 lots, the surfaces of 56 had a
considerable amount of ashes, rubbish and garbage, and 16 had an
excessively large amount. There was an entire lack of receptacles
in some yards. In others where the supply is adequate, the
receptacles are either not used or are used very carelessly. The
photographs tell the story better than figures or words; though
even they do not tell the whole story, as any one knows who has
tried to get a photograph of rubbish that appears as bad as the
condition. Only a few ash chutes were noted as clogged or in
very bad repair; though a considerable number were seen which
were not emptying squarely into the receptacle under them, or
had no receptacle.

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MAINTENANCE 73

To give a better knowledge of the conditions than figures
can give, by a cursory review of the inspection cards, the following
hit-or-miss transcript was made from the notes on the back of
some of the cards. Nothing can give the impression that would
be made by a visit to the premises.

— Bottom of air shaft loaded with rags, papers, cans and
swill. Cellar entrance loaded with rubbish.

< — Odors from cellars and garbage cans are very strong at
the rear of these rooms; two bedrooms.

— Cellar compartments loaded with rubbish, old rags,
mattress, excelsior, cans, two spots of human filth, dead cat.
Under stairs about a barrel of excelsior.

— Sink: side gone, door off, trap leaks; has been repaired
with putty and rag. In bad condition for a year. " Owner tried
to fix it about three weeks ago but he has not been to it since.
I've told him about the casing many times."

— Water iwarped floor boards at sink make trip for feet;
broken drain board; waste pipe at trap wrapped with grease-
soaked rag.

— Two holes in bottom of sink stopped by rags.

— Waste pipe tied with large rag. "Leaked before, not now."
In water closet leak from above through ceiling. Tenant says
condition is chronic, and that the water drops on the seat. Dis-
colored spot, wet, confirms the statement.

— All paint at sink and cupboard scrubbed off. Tenant here
six years. No painting in that time.

— Tenant here ten years. Two rooms white-washed in that
time.

— Here eight yeais. Front room done over two years ago,
paper not paint.

— Both front and rear halls in very dirty condition. Two
tenants say they have not been done over in ten years. Good-
sized holes in plaster in rear hall and places lacking paper in front.

— Water closet floor badly wet with dirty water as from soil-
pipe. Tenant says the leak has been here five months. Source
not discernible. Hole in kitchen ceiling over stove, about four
feet by two feet. This tenant lived five years at the west end
of the building. No painting there in that time.

— Two holes in second floor hall patched by nailing pieces
of boxes onto them.

— Here thirteen years. " He clean one time."

— Sink doors in all these apartments (3) off hinges.

— Entrance sash door (front) permanently boarded: stairs
with winders made very dark.

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74 LAWRENCE SURVEY

/ — Here more than twenty years. " Painted kitchen once.
/So long back I can't remember. More than fifteen years." In
^ apartment on same floor: here ekven years. " Front room and
kitchen done two years after we came. No painting." Three
owners in twenty years. Present landlord has owned the house
seven years.

— Hole in entrance hall at threshold of front door.

— Door from hall into tenement (only entrance), upper hinge
severed. " Told the agent three weeks ago."

— Floors in hall very thin and full of humps. Stairs same.
Nosing on four treads all gone.

— Nosing gone on winder (triangular tread). Girl fell on the
stair last week.

— Leak at sink strainer follows waste pipe to water closet
floor around the bowl which is encased. Floor inside case soaked
and with filth: not accessible. Water follows soil-pipe into cellar
and keeps a section of soft ground wet. Sink waste pipe is not
trapped, goes into cellar, thence into soil-pipe direct. Vent pipe
from iwater closet trap is open into the compartment, due to the
fact that a sink formerly on the opposite side of the partition
was served by the same vent pipe, and when removed the tee was
not closed.

•A house owned by an elderly woman who is a life-tenant only,
was in particularly bad repair. The following are the facts about
the first floor tenement at the rear. The ash chute from the two
floors above emptied directly, without box, onto the porch floor
which is the only approach to the apartment. No barrels have
been provided for several months, and the occupant of the tenement
was forced to keep the ashes and garbage swept into a pile under
the ash chute to avoid the necessity of climbing over them. In
the room which was used as a sitting-room, the paper on the
ceiling hung down in long strips. It had been in this condition
for three weeks. The tenant stated that he had been there five
years, and that no repairs had taken place during that time,
although he had asked for them. He had hesitated to move
because with eight children he had found it difficult to find a
tenement. In a bedroom" off the kitchen such dim light as could
have entered the room was entirely shut out by a blind. When
the tenant was asked why the blind was kept closed, he pointed
to the fact that a pane of glass was gone, with the statement,
"The landlord said if we wanted it fixed, we would have to do it
ourselves. But Fm not going to. It is not right. It fell out for
lack of putty. None of us did anything to it."

The supply of water in nine water closets was cut oflf by
frozen pipes. Most of these were in houses owned by one man,
and all the tenants in those apartments claimed that the condition

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MAINTENANCE 75

The boys are in the front and only entrance to a six-family
rear house. The brace in the upper left corner is at the steps of
the front entrance of a three-family rear house.

was usual in cold weather. In three hall closets in two houses,
lanterns were kept constantly burning to keep the closets from
freezing. In another house where there are six hall closets, the
water was turned off in the cellar, and a tenant who had been there
several years stated that in very cold weather the landlord habitu-
ally kept the water turned off except during the hours six to nine
in the evening, with the idea that so many were out of the house
during the day. Mothers and children were found in three apart-
ments, and at the noon hour several others were seen. The house
was visited three times in two weeks and at these times the odor
from unflushed closets was sickening.

About ten apartments on Common street were found vacant
and unlocked. The public had free access at all times. - The closets
had been used many times and could not be flushed. Many of the
floors had been used in place of the water closet. Six other similar
apartments were noted in one of the half-blocks on the opposite side
of the street. There three halls were also in the same filthy condi-

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76 LAWRENCE SURVEY

tion. During the summer the windows of these apartments were
open, and the odor from them was obnoxious. Flies abounded,
and the open doors and windows of grocery and meat stores are
close at hand. Apparently these conditions are constantly to be
found in these particular houses, for they existed through the
spring and summer.

Almost no halls are lighted at night in the Common and Valley
street half-blocks. Most of the houses in these blocks are not pro-
vided with gas in the public halls. In some where the house is piped
for gas, there are no fixtures in the halls, and in others where the
fixtures exist, either there is no supply of gas or no regular arrange-
ment for lighting it. An examination of the halls in the two blocks
at the east end of Common street made between eight and nine
o'clock on three different nights, two of them Saturday, found less
than ten halls with lights in them. Similar examination in two
blocks on Valley street disclosed only four halls which were lighted.
One yard in the Common street half -blocks and four yards in
the Valley street are the only instances where the space between
front and rear buildings was found lighted at night.

The Common Need for Better Homes

A chief of a fire department recently described the manner of
gathering certain figures as a " triangular dispensation." The
phrase well summarizes our city life in the tenement districts. We
are under a triangular dispensation, the neglect, ignorance and low
ideals of the owners, tenants and the city officials. It is waste of
time to debate with anyone which of the three groups has been
chiefly at fault in the past. But it is quite worth while to consider
methods for meeting in the future the need for better homes.

The idea which many have that the owner of a house is the
one who should be considered responsible is natural, justifiable, and
necessary. The clearing of the walks promptly in winter is a
typical responsibility. It can be borne by no one so well as by the
owner. No one else has control of the spaces which are used in
common in and around the houses. The halls and stairways should
be always clean, in good repair and well lighted; the open spaces
clean, well-drained and, if used as a passageway, lighted at night.

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MAINTENANCE ^^

This means for the owner constant expense in money and time, and
much anxiety. It can seem an unreasonable burden only to those
who have been regarding their ownership as purely a matter of
investment, who regard rent as identical with interest. Monthly,
weekly and almost daily expenditures for maintenance, — cleaning,
lighting, repairing and watch-care, — will come to be common prac-
tice; for the care of the public places such as hallways, yards and
walks is inherently part of the business of owning a tenement house.
There are in Lawrence a considerable number of landlords who
seem to regard the ownership of these houses as they would regard
the conduct of a store. They give their time and attention to the
details involved in the business. In these rapidly growing cities
the idea will prevail with increasing speed, that it is not good public
policy to allow tenement house owners to ignore their manifest duty
in this particular, or to pass the responsibility to the tenants, or to
say that the habits of the tenants are beyond the owner's ability to
control. A janitor is needed in the largest houses and a caretaker
in the smaller ones. In every house there ought to be a definite
financial arrangement with a tenant or another person for the
lighting of the halls and the care of all the public places. Whatever
arrangement a landlord may make, his responsibility for the success-
ful working of the arrangement seems unavoidably part of the
business and, in the event of its failure, there ought to be a recog-
nized right with any family to ask the city for the safety of light,
and for protection against the dirt of other families. This protec-
tion will seldom be sought from the health department directly,
because the families fear that the landlord will know who made
the complaint.

That fact adds greatly to the need which is everywhere recog-
nized, that tenement houses should have systematic inspection regu-
larly within stated periods. For this purpose, though there were
five sanitary inspectors in the employ of the city for most of the
year 191 1, Lawrence has not had the right kind of inspection. The
right inspection would assist owners very materially, and they need
such assistance. Additional to a caretaker the presence of a good
inspector in a tenement house, recurring periodically whether

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78 LAWRENCE SURVEY

needed or not, is all that is necessary to better the conditions in
hundreds of houses. Many owners do not need written orders and
many tenants do not need reprimands to be stirred to remedy the
conditions of neglect and carelessness. The right inspection should
of course include conditions inside apartments. For this purpose
and for other reasons, the right kind of a wornan can secure the
best results. Women have done some of the best work in sanitary
inspection. They accomplish most in the education of the tenants,
and that is important, for one of the chief objects ought to be
persistant instruction in sanitary matters. This is needed by many
tenants. The health department should deal officially and legally
with owners, but its inspectors meet the tenants incessantly and the
opportunity for effective service is constant.

Our public school curriculum cannot be loaded with cures for
every social ailment, but certainly the instruction of the young
, concerning how to live in the over-crowded houses of the tenement
districts ought to be serious and efficient. Two or three text books
now in use in some schools are helping but they are not compre-
hensive in their topics and in most of their suggestions are alto-
gether too meager. The right books and the right instruction
would achieve direct and broad results. The education of the
tenants is so much a social need that the community as a whole
should be co-operating with the tenement house owners through
the schools arid the right kind of sanitary inspection.

The Improvement of Existing Buildings

If old buildings are kept in good repair, that is not all that the
city might well be requiring; for there are improvements which
can be made in existing buildings at a cost that is immaterial in
relation to the benefit secured.

For rrtany years it has been common practice in the large
cities to paint or whitewash the side walls of buildings. In New
York the law has required for ten years that the walls of courts
shall be either of light colored brick or made white with paint or
whitewash. Lawrence should be securing white side walls on many
of the houses in the crowded blocks; for in this manner the dimly

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8o LAWRENCE SURVEY

lighted tenements would be very materially improved. This is
the more desirable because there are so many dimly lighted rooms,
and the improvement that could be secured is out of all proportion
to the cost involved.

There are possible other low cost changes of various kinds
in a good many houses. Better light can be secured in halls that
are now dark, — by glass substituted for wooden panel in entrance
doors, by windows in outside walls, or by the construction of a
skylight. The light in water closets in some houses could be
greatly improved. In some of the older houses there are windows
only a few inches in either dimension. Also in some houses win-
dows have been constructed through a partition into a room, in
spite of the fact that the water closet is against an outside wall in
which the window could have been placed. There are water closets
with doors coming from public halls which could have had doors
from each apartment and each then would have been within the
apartment. Whatever question there may be about the city's
ordering some improvements, there is no question about the de-
sirability of removing the wooden cases around the water closets
in many of the existing houses. This would be apparent to anyone
from a most cursory examination of the conditions which are now
to be found around many of these encased fixtures. The require-
ment that the floors of many closets be kept heavily painted would
not be unreasonable and would be decidedly beneficial. Where the
lower end of the galvanized local vent pipe has rusted out, a section
ought to be replaced by another kind of metal ; — that which several
cities are now requiring.

There are buildings that ought to have fire escapes ordered
onto them immediately. The need for this is shown later in the
paragraphs concerning no second egress.

If the board of health were to adopt the policy of bringing
into court regularly each quarter, or even each half-year, one good
case of overcrowding, and give it much publicity, the living con-
ditions in some of the tenements would be constantly maintained
on a much better level than they are now.

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BUILDING REGULATIONS 8i

The Best Water Closet Standards in Massachusetts

If there were anywhere to be found a study of the history of
water closet requirements as they have been adopted at various
times in all the cities of this country, such study would probably
show that Lawrence stands among the first in this particular. In
fact it would not be surprising, if it were found that only two or
three cities antedate this one in establishing equally high standards.
Since 1894, Lawrence has been requiring by the regulations of the
board of health, enforced by a plumbing inspector, that there shall
be in every house one water closet for each family, and that it
shall have a window of three square feet area. These two standards
have not only been secured in new houses, but repairs in old houses
have been accompanied by the installation of water closets within
the house, and usually in the number required in new houses. That
it might be possible to compare Lawrence with the other cities
of Massachusetts, the plumbing codes and regulations of all cities
with a population of more than 20,000 were studied. Only one
other city could be found that has yet established these two
standards which Lawrence has been requiring for seventeen years.

Whatever may be the results which are being secured without
legislation in the other cities, these two requirements are far too
important to be left to chance. Lawrence has added to them the
specifications that each closet shall be "in a separate compartment
separated from all other rooms by partitions from floor to ceiling,"
that windows onto air shafts shall be five square feet in area; and
the " area of the shaft shall be equal to the combined area of the
windows opening onto it." Eleven cities in Massachusetts have
no requirement concerning the number of water closets that shall
be placed in a house, and a twelfth specifies one for every twelve
persons. Concerning windows : three cities permit them to open on
a shaft of 3 sq. ft. ; three others permit flues of six or eight inches ;
seven accept in place of a window that two inch pipe from the
water closet bowl which is known as the local vent; two stipulate
that the ventilation shall be " adequate " : and six have no require-
ment. Thus among 27 cities, 21 have entirely inadequate specifi-
cations for windows. The citizens of Lawrence may well take

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82 LAWRENCE SURVEY

just pride in the record of the city in these particulars. But that
record does not mean that there are no water closet conditions that
need remedying.

History of Building Ordinances

In the 1908 report of the fire underwriters, it is said that a
comprehensive fire limits district which had previously been es-
tablished was abolished in 1880. On June 4, 1900, a small fire
district, lying along both sides of Essex street, was established and
has remained unchanged. This district is less than 280 feet wide,
with Essex street's 80 feet in the middle of it. It does not even
include the east end of this main business street, and by 1908 the
city officials had forgotten that it existed.

In 1901 an attempt was made to secure a building code. The
interest began in February and lasted, so far as any record could
be found, till the first week in May.

In the draft first proposed, fire limits were to be established
from the river to Haverhill street, from Union street to the
Railroad. Within the district no wooden building exceeding one
story was to be erected. Section 13 ^imed a body-blow, though
a very clumsy one, at the use of wood outside of the fire limits:
" No tenement house shall be erected within three feet of the side
or rear line of the lot, but, whenever two or more houses to be
used for tenement purposes are hereafter built nearer together
than twenty feet, the walls shall be brick at least twelve inches
thick above the foundation walls to the roof." Another section
required any tenement or lodging house " with a frontage of more
than thirty feet " to have a middle fire wall from cellar to three
feet above the roof.

Early in April, the matter was referred to a committee con-
sisting of two aldermen, the city engineer, superintendent of
public property, four contractors and two insurance men. Their
draft re'diiced the fire limits to include only Common street,
additional to the limits then existing. Sec. 13 was made to read
" No iwall or part of a wall shall be erected within three feet of
the line of an adjoining lot or within six feet of the wall of another
building, unless said wall or part of a wall is brick filled as
specified in Sec. 7." Sec. 7 provided that tenement houses having
two families on a floor should have a separating brick-filled wall
four inches thick. The same kind of wall was required for all
partitions inclosing stairways and light shafts.

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BUILDING REGULATIONS 83

The ordinance appears to have been smothered some time in
May.

March 19th, 1906, the main portion of the roof of the
Majestic Rink collapsed, because of a heavy fall of snow. A sec-
tion of about 100 feet by 50 fell to the skating surface. The fol-
lowing day the Telegram said : " A significant warning, — some-
thing certainly ought to be done to enforce safe and sane building
laws in this city. The collapse of the roof of the Majestic Rink is
a case to the point. No new building like this one, properly con-
structed, would collapse under last night's snow fall. Just think
of what might have happened had the accident occurred a few
hours earlier, while a polo game was in progress. If this narrow
escape from a terrible tragedy means anything, it means the city
government will be remiss in its duty, if it does not at once pass
wise building ordinances and appoint proper officials to see that
they are carried out."

The agitation thus renewed secured the reconsideration of the
formerly proposed regulations and of one or two other similar
bills. The code finally adopted April 23, 1906, was based upon
the proposed code of 190 1 emasculated.

It strengthened Sec. 13 by substituting a twelve-inch brick wall
in place of a brick-filled wall. It made the distance between front
and rear buildings eight feet instead of six feet and irrespective
of the character of the walls. It added the requirement of a bond
from the inspector and the keeping of records and a paragraph
giving right to enter. It incorporated the establishment of the
office of inspector, the issuance of permits, and some paragraphs
giving him much discretionary power over unsafe buildings. It
also included verbatim three or four small paragraphs, relatively
unimportant, and two important paragraphs weakened.

The amount of penalty possible was greatly reduced; the fire
limits were omitted; Sec. 7, as summarized above, was dropped;
and about thirteen paragraphs of conservative specifications for
structural safety were ignored.

The building inspector qualified for his duties May 28, 1906,
The building ordinance as adopted is now in force, except that
minor amendments have since been made in two sections. The
inspector's annual reports have repeatedly asked for a better
ordinance.

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84 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The Character of The Building Ordinance

Concerning this, the report of the fire underwriters said:
" The municipal building laws are practically valueless/' The basis
for this opinion may be seen by considering the ordinance in detail.
That can be done briefly. Several of the sections have been suffi-
ciently described above. There are three about metal leaders,
chimneys and projections into streets.

For the purpose of fire protection, there are three requirements :

First. " No tenement house shall be erected within
three feet of the side line of a lot, unless the walls be
brick " etc.

The ordinance does not define tenement house, and any
building inspector could legally allow three-family wooden
houses to be built on the lot line. This would be in keeping with
the legal definition of tenement house in Boston, Springfield and
a few other places. Fortunately Lawrence had for five years a
building inspector who had sufficient interest in the city's welfare
to define tenement house to include any house with more than one
family. A second grave fault in the section is the fact that ten-
ement houses are mentioned at all. Wooden boarding houses and
other buildings are not mentioned and have been, and are being,
erected on side lot lines.

Second. " Whenever two buildings shall be erected
on the same lot of land, one in the rear of the other, the
outside walls shall be at least eight feet apart."

Separate rear houses on lots of ordinary depths ought not to be
allowed. If allowed, the distance of eight feet is altogether too
small. Small as it is, the phrasing " outside walls '* permits all
sorts of encroachments on it. In very many instances porches,
stairs, balconies and other encroachments have been constructed
in this space, frequently filling it entirely.

Third. *' All buildings hereafter erected two stories
above the level of the street shall be provided with two
separate stairways, placed in such manner that the inmates
shall have easy means of egress at all times, said stair-
ways to lead from each story.'*

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BUILDING REGULATIONS 85

It would seem to be the purpose of this section that all inmates
shall have two means of egress, but the phrasing does not
explicitly say this, nor does it say that the two ways out shall
be independent of each other. Without doubt each apartment
should have direct access to two independent and safe stairways
or fire escapes. The section is from the 1901 proposed code
verbatim with two exceptions. That code read "occupants"
instead of " inmates," and its final clause read " each tenement
to have access to both stairways " instead of " said stairways to
lead from each story." The section as enacted appears to say
what it does not say. There are new buildings in Lawrence where
one or more third or fourth-floor apartments have no second
egress. This is radically wrong, yet is possible, because the
explicit language of the 1901 draft was dropped.

For ordering additional egress in old buildings, certain
sections seem to give the inspector abundant power, but leave the
question entirely to his judgment. Such a condition as no second
egress from third and fourth floor apartments is too important
to be left to the discretion of any individual.

The foregoing three sections have some value. A fourth
has none. Wooden tenement or lodging houses are limited to the
height of 48 feet. In this height five stories can be erected; what
more would be desired? So far the builders have not desired
to build wooden five-story houses, and only four or five four-
story and basement houses. The 1901 draft limited wooden
tenement and lodging houses to four stories.

For the purpose of structural safety there are three para-
graphs ; one against weakening timbers by cutting them for pipes ;
a second which limits the distance between studs to sixteen inches ;
and a third which gives two dimensions for certain timbers. Both
these specifications are limited to buildings of " over two and less
than four stories." The phrasing is ridiculous, for it includes
only three-story buildings. Since the passage of the ordinance
almost one hundred four-story, frame houses have been built;
and there is not a word in the code concerning the strength of such
buildings. Relate these ridiculous, structural provisions to the

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86 LAWRENCE SURVEY

new rink that fell and the public's demand for protection, and
we have a tale of comedy fit for the best of court jesters.

The foregoing summary states all there is to the building
ordinance of Lawrence and it has been in existence five years, —
three years since the National Board of Fire Underwriters in
formal report termed it valueless. It is not surprising that the
building inspector said in his last annual report:

" Each year, I have recommended that the City Council
take up the matter of revising the Building Ordinances. That
suggestion is not out of place at this time. Last year and
the year previous, I recommended that the Building Ordin-
ances be revised along the lines laid down by the National
Board of Fire Underwriters. This year I make the same
suggestion. Under the present ordinance, there is no pro-
vision for foundations, thickness of brick walls, size of floor
timbers or columns, floor loads, lighting or ventilation of
buildings, protection against fire, or any of the important
matters which a building ordinance should restrict. Of course,
in a general way, some provision has been made in the
ordinance to cover some of the matters above mentioned. The
law should be specific and accurate, in order to be effective."

It should be noted that the building code has nothing in it
that meets the conditions of defective maintenance and the need
for renovation that has been shown in the preceding pages. The
care and improvement of old houses is a need that is found in
every city and should of course be provided for in legal require-
ments. Serious as this need is, it is small in comparison with the
need for controlling the construction of new houses. Prevention
not cure should have first consideration. Any city of any size
has this need. In view of the entire lack of control of new houses
that exists in Lawrence, it is necessary to study in detail the
extent to which this control is needed. Because of the congestion
the character of the new houses is of supreme importance.

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE

33,700 Persons on 300 Acres

This is the population in the central district elsewhere
described. There are probably very few cities in the country
where the populuation is less than 100,000 and there is so large
an area as 300 acres with an average density of 112 to the acre.
The density, if the 17 acres in the Common is excluded, is 119
per acre. There is one section of 14.9 acres where the density is
216 and another of 17.3 acres where the density is 214. The
densities in six half-blocks, as previously stated on page 60,
range between 243 and 556.

The area of the city is small in relation to most of the cities
in Massachusetts. But the smallness of the total area is not the
reason for the congestion in Lawrence, if it can be stated, as it
can be, that more than one-third of the population is living on one-
thirteenth of the city's area.

In the central district there are about thirty half-blocks
where the majority of the lots are so built upon at present that
further additions of houses will be in the nature of filling in the
light and air chinks; with the result that such additions will make
city blocks which are solidly built upon, except the narrow slits
of space between houses. There are numerous other half-blocks
which contain many vacant lots and also houses which are crowded
together. Into two-thirds of the central half -blocks, large houses
are steadily being inserted. The congestion is increasing rapidly.

The Large Number of Rear Houses

The houses that are moved back on lots are usually small
houses; but the new houses that are being built at the rear are
large houses. Seventy such, built in the last four and one-half
years, contain 255 apartments. There are in the central 300
acres, 360; in a district bounded by the rivers. Park, May and
Margin streets, 500 ; in North Lawrence 703 ; in all Lawrence 822.

There is a striking contrast between the insurance map of
Lawrence and the maps of other New England cities in the
number and size of rear houses. The maps of all the important

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88 LAWRENCE SURVEY

v/as

An alley corps of " old settlers," most of them still in use but marking time
waiting to be displaced by houses like those in the following picture.

cities were examined. In those for Manchester, Lowell, Salem,
Fall River and New Bedford, certain streets have front houses
as close together and in some blocks as large as the front houses
Lawrence, but the rear houses are not as numerous and not
as large. Cambridge and Manchester have some badly crowded
blocks, but the houses are smaller. Lowell and Salem have
sections of blocks, groups of four to eight houses, which equal
the worst congestion in Lawrence, but the pages in their maps
do not display the conditions on the Lawrence map. The center
in Lawrence has the largest number of large frame houses and
the largest number of rear houses. With Boston's brick center
excepted, the map of the Lawrence center is the worst in New
England.

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Rear houses in the next alley to that shown in the preceding picture; one
block nearer to the center of the city.

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90 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Some of the Recent Houses

Lawrence ought to be examining with great care every
house which is proposed to be introduced into the already over-
crowded center. Some of the houses now being built would have
to be considered badly lighted houses, if they were on a prairie.

There are kitchen and water closet windows that open onto deep

porches and the windows give entirely insufficient light. Builders
are constructing dimly lighted and even windowless sink rooms,
which also frequently serve as pantries. These are the work-
rooms for the women. It is not difficult to guess accurately how
many carpenters would build for themselves bench-rooms that
have neither light nor ventilation; but they build them for the
women.

In the two districts, there were found fifty-seven living-
rooms where the source of light and air is from ten light-wells.
Their areas and the number of living-rooms opening from them
are as follows:

Area of Living

Each Shaft

Room

Two shafts

20 sq. ft.

Three "

25 to 27 sq.ft.

Five "

32 to 36 " "

Six of these shafts serve, besides 34 living-rooms, 30 sink-rooms
and 32 water closets or bath-rooms including water closets. Most
of these shafts occur in buildings that are relatively not old
buildings. The practice with architects in trying to secure light
in this manner is current. The spaces on the plans are usually
marked, "Light well — skylight over." All the shafts seen are
covered with skylights and there are ventilators in most of them.
In some of them at the bottom there is an opening to the cellar
but in no case a fresh-air duct. The ventilation is quite inade-
quate. To the upper floors the bad air and noise of the lower
floors are furnished. The shafts are enlarged speaking tubes; a
quarrel or a child being whipped, a sick baby or a person who
snores, — any of these in one family disturbs all other families.
Onions for dinner in a lower apartment means onions for dinner
in all apartments. The situation is ludicrous, — except for those
who live in it. In the hot weather the bedrooms that open on

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 91

these shafts are a burden to the strong as well as to the babies
and the sick. The light for the rooms on the top floor is fair at
all times. On the next to the top floor a fair amount of light is
secured only on bright days. For the rooms that are three and
four floors below the roof there is inadequate light at all times.
Such construction as this is not necessary.

The photograph was taken looking from a dark kitchen
through a half-open window into an inner court between two
buildings. It serves six kitchens and at the third and fourth floqrs
contains porches four feet wide. Such space in Brooklyn and
Connecticut would have to be about twice as large and could not
have any encroachments. This inner court is materially better
than the spaces that exist in some buildings, yet it is entirely
inadequate for the lighting of the center floor spaces of the house.

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92 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The left part of the sketch above is the outHne of one of two
recently built houses which are almost identical. The picture on
the opposite page shows the interrupted wall as above. Both
this house and its mate appear on their street sides to be
among the best of the large tenement houses, and are good in
many respects. But in the point of lack of light in the centers
of the buildings, they are among the worst hpuses in Lawrence.
The two narrow slits shown in the sketch are only three feet
wide and their inner ends are twenty-seven feet from the rear
wall of the building. For the purpose which these slits serve,
other cities have for several years been securing by law courts
nine and ten feet wide and in addition a yard of five feet depth
at the rear of the building. Behind one of these buildings is a
very small yard space ; the other has no yard.

The front halls have windows into these narrow courts,
but are so dark that one has to feel his way at the second and
third floors. The open spaces are not "even wide enough to give
room for a window of adequate size to light the bedrooms that
are located at the ends. At the rear end of the two courts, the
sketch represents, by broken cross lines, space that is occupied by
porches at each floor. Kitchen and rear hall windows open onto
the porches and at the second and third floors receive almost no
light. On cloudy days artificial light is necessary in the halls,
kitchens, sink-rooms and bath-rooms. Such obstructions as these
ought not to be allowed. The buildings will have even less light
in them, when the owners of the adjoining lots have built as near
the lot line and as high as these buildings stand.

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LAWRENCE SURVEY

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BOOM WITHOUT LIGHT OR VENTILATION

A four-story frame house. " Not more than two such houses built each
year." — Building Inspector. Such rooms are unnecessary, and permission to
construct them is not good public policy. Built summer of 191 1.

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 95

BADLY LIOHTBD DOUBLE HOUSE

Looking between two rear houses to the rear of the front house. The court
between wings, obstructed by stairs, serves six bed-rooms and six alcove rooms
and is only four feet wide. From eight to ten feet are being required for such
spaces in some cities, and the obstructions would be illegal. Built summer of 191 1,

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96 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The foregoing picture shows a form of house which is already
very common and will probably increase in number rapidly. It is
the double house with two wings at the rear, separated by an outer
court, making a floor plan with an outline that suggests a magnet.
In many houses in Lawrence these courts are not wide enough to
properly light the centers of the buildings and in numerous
instances are obtructed by porches and balconies. In some houses
the courts are almost entirely filled by such obstructions. The
obstruction ought not to be allowed and a court of adequate width
should be required. Cities with populations of more than a million
are requiring that such spaces shall be eight feet wide and the
standards in some cities are nine and ten feet. Surely Lawrence
ought to be able to leave more open space around a building than
is being left in cities with a population of a million.

Some of the new houses w^ould not be bad houses in open
fields but are thoroughly bad for the center of Lawrence, because
of their relation to other houses. On the adjoining page is a
picture of a building which is practically the same as that form
of house known in New York notoriously as the " dumb-bell "
\/nouse, so called because the outline of the buildings has somewhat
the shape of a dumb-bell, as may be seen in the sketch below which
shows the ground plan of a series of these bad buildings as they
exist in New York. Each of the narrow slits seen between the
houses is the only source of light and air for about forty-eight
rooms. It has been impossible to construct them since the law
of 1901.

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98 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The owner of the " ten footer " in the foregoing picture
built the walls of the store wide enough to permit the
construction of a four-story building and he is being urged even
now to do this. He says he does not see what he can do, when
he builds, except to duplicate the recess of his neighbor's building.
When this has been done, the narrow space between these two
buildings will admit practically no light and will furnish the
upper floors only with the bad air of the lower floors. In New
York Gity the construction of such houses was begun as early
as 1879,. and, although at that time the true character of the house
was realized, this form became the prevailing type of tenement
house for nearly twenty years. Since the passage of the new
law in 1 90 1, the legal requirements have been such that these
buMings can no longer be erected. Except for the thousands of
unfortunate families who still live in the old ones, the dumb-bell
tenements have been for ten years a matter of history. Certain
types of buildings such as this one are inherently bad, and never
can be otherwise. It matters not in what city they are located.
Knowledge of them ought to be universal. The experience which
New York has had with this form of building ought to satisfy
all the cities of the country. It would seem that the complete
demonstration that has been made in that great city should be
adequate to prevent the building of such houses anywhere. There
are no peculiar conditions in any city which are so fundamental
that they need to force in the repetition of the worst features in
the worst houses in the old building practice of New York City.

Scattered all through the center there are many other build-
ings which are paupers in the matter of light. They are being
supported by their neighbors. In these buildings rooms are
lighted solely by windows that are located on a side lot-line;
such rooms being the majority of all rooms in some buildings.
When the owner of the adjoining lot comes to build, he is almost
forced to do as the man on the other side of the line has done,
and by so doing he shuts out the light from the lot-line windows.
There are numerous buildings where rooms have already been
made practically windowless in this way. There are several

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 99

Old Settler " Marooned." Two three-story houses shut it in at the rear also.
Both four-story houses have lot-line windows. What will become of them when
the old settler passes away?

instances where the man who first built kept away from a side
line, then the man on the opposite side of the line built close to
the line and after a while the first man put out a new wall near
the line. Thus the failure of two men to agree is allowed, by
our lax public policy, to create dangerous housing conditions which
will cost the public dearly. Considering the speed with which
large new buildings are being introduced, it is certain that this
blockading of windows at the center in Lawrence will increase
rapidly during the next few years.

A house with lot-line windows and similar defects has some
immediate financial advantage to the builder. There can be more
rooms in a tenement or the rooms can be larger; so that for a
few years the rents are higher. The builder has benefited him-
self at the expense of his neighbors and the public.

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 103

Rooming houses were purposely not included in this examina-
tion. But they should not escape attention entirely; for there are
a considerable number of new ones and some of them are not
well lighted, while others will be poorly lighted eventually. Most
of the new ones have very good exteriors, but in the interiors
the city is allowing the gradual accumulation of very badly lighted
living quarters. The newest hotel in the city may easily become
one of the worst buildings. The building shown on the opposite
page is by no means a single instance, but a fair sample of all
this class of dwelling-places.

That windowless rooms are being constructed in new houses,
as in shown in the sketch on page 94, needs little comment. For
more than ten years, thousands and thousands of houses have been
constructed in New York with a window in every room, as the
law requires. There is no opportunity for any feeling of com-
placency that Lawrence is not building a large number of these
houses. We know too much about the use of such rooms through
long periods of years to make it possible to think with complacency
of one such house.

Two facts partly explain the bad new buildings. Some
builders plan a house which is suitable enough for a good-sized
lot. Then they use this plan over and over again, regardless of
the size of the lot they are building on. This frequently turns
a good house into a bad house. There seems to be no thought that
the reduced size of the lot should radically change the form of
the building. The other fact is the unwarranted toleration of the
smallest lots. Nearly everyone is ready to excuse wretched con-
struction on the plea of the smallness of the lot. It seems to be
considered possible to take from a very small lot half the income
which could be secured from a lot twice as large. This is un-
reasonable. In using building material there are certain minimum
dimensions below which the material has little or no value. The
same ought to be true concerning the smallest building lots. The
amount of light admitted into buildings is subjected to definite
measurements. The necessary measurements for open space in
relation to width of floor and height of wall cannot be secured on

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I04 LAWRENCE SURVEY

the smallest lots. It ought to be impossible to construct a house
on them which has half the value of a house on a lot twice as wide.

As a help to a right view of the seriousness of the conditions,
we should mark out as best we can in a coarse, rough way the
number of people who will try to use such a house as that
described elsewhere, in which there are eight apartments which
have eleven rooms lighted solely by windows on a lot-line.
Supposing that these windows are blocked by an adjoining build-
ing before the end of ten years, and after that the house remains
in use for sixty years; using the average number of persons in
private families in Lawrence, and figuring that there will be one
removal in each apartment every two years, we reach the number
I, I GO persons. At least one thousand persons will try to use
this house after the windows are blockaded and the rooms are
practically windowless. This is an underestimate for one house.

New houses so constructed that there are dark halls, dark
and crooked stairs, rooms opening only on vent shafts, windowless
rooms, lot-line windows, large floors unbroken by fire walls, and
other similar defects are most serious. There is possible
practically no alteration that betters these conditions. Once in
existence, they will continue the same till the house is burned or
torn down. Are not these the conditions that have cost the cities
of England millions of dollars in the effort to better here and
there a few patches? Is it wise that a few men should be allowed
to take for a few years, a little more money than they would
under reasonable restrictions, and the whole city suffer for it?
Surely the intelligent citizens in Lawrence have not stopped to
think about these houses. For such houses at the center of any
city, and especially in Lawrence where the congestion is already
so great, are not bad in any onefold, twofold or threefold manner.
They are seventy times seven bad. The periods of their existence
will average seventy years. Each one, because it seems possible
to take a larger income from it than from a better house, will
cause other new houses to take the same form. In fact, if
unrestrained, they will become the prevailing form of house at
the center. This is exactly the history of the infamous dumb-bell
house in New York City.

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 105

Houses That Trap Men Like Animals

The life hazard at the time of a conflagration, when fire
attacks the exterior of houses, has been mentioned in the first
pages of the report. The life risk from fires that originate insidey
of houses is excessively high in Lawrence; judging from the
conditions which exist in the six half-blocks examined; for they
are typical of about thirty half-blocks at the center. There is
second egress from thirteen third-floor and two fourth-floor
apartments only over the roof. When egress is to be had only
by entering the upper part of a flight of stairs which may already^
be choked with smoke and flames, safe exit is very questionable.
It is not to be expected that women, children, the old and the
sick will act rationally or choose such exit when it involves rushing
through dense smoke or flames. Two other third-floor apartments
are depending for second egress upon wooden balconies in
exposed positions. Three have egress only across a bridge through
another apartment. Egress that involves the possible need for
breaking into, and then out from, a vacant third-floor apartment
is not what it should be for the young and the feeble. Four other .
third-story apartments have dangerous exit over roofs where the
spaces between houses are from three to five feet wide, and it is
necessary to step over these open spaces. Three houses that are
not included in the figures of this paragraph had second egress
completely shut off by obstruction. A description of one of them
is sufficient. In a rear house there are four apartments, two each
on the third and fourth floors. The rear stairs lead to the alley
and were completely blocked by rubbish and wood at the second
floor and on the first flight. They remained impassable below the
second floor for more than nine months, and were in that condition
when last seen. There are, in addition to the foregoing, thirty-
five third-floor and seven fourth-floor apartments which have no
second egress whatever. This makes in six half-blocks a total of* ,
sixty-six third and fourth-floor apartments which have insufficienr
egress. Under nine of them there are seven bakeshops.

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io6

LAWRENCE SURVEY

What No Second Egress from a Third Floor Means

2 KILLED BY LEAP AT FIRE.

Fire started mysrterioxisly on the
ground floor of a tenement hous^ at
5^0. 250 Powell street, Ea'st New York,
at 4 o'cloc5k« yesterday morning. The
rooms of Juliu»^ Shapiro and his family
were on the top floor.

The (Shapiros groped their way to the
front of the hxlilding. Shapiro stood on
1 narrow ledge at the third floor and
'dropped his Infant Sidney safely into
Policeman Thomas Goodman's arms.
The father next dropped nine-year-old
Aaron with like success. Aaron's hair
was aflame. George and Sadie Shapiro,
fourteen and twelve, were then dropped
by their father. George's right leg was
fractured, Sadie's skull and left leg
were flractured and both were hurt inter-
nally.

Shapiro and his wife Jumped and
l)oth were instantly killed.

"I would be pleased to receive con-
tributions addressed to me, for the
children, care of Box 14, Station P,
Brooklyn/* said Alderman Alexander
Dreschen

-' »

N, Y, World, Nov. 4, 1911. (Pg- 16, Col. 4).

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 107

East New York is a district in Brooklyn. The house con-
tained two tenements above a store; and, because it is a two-
family house, it is not under the state tenement house law. Each
item of the accident as described above has been corroborated in
a letter from Mr. Drescher. Was there any accident about the
fact that the house had no second egress?

In view of all the knowledge we have of the daily occurrences
in the^ cities of this country, was the event described below an
accident, or something else? The Hartford Courant of December
4, 191 1, under the heading "Woman Suffocated in Old Fire
Trap," says :

"Through what the officials term a violation of the tenement
house law Mrs. Jane Banks, 71 years old, lost her life late yesterday-
afternoon in a tenement house fire at No. 37 Wolcott street. The
fire was of unknown origin, starting on the third floor, which
was occupied by Mrs. Banks and her husband.

" Engine company No. 8 is located only a few blocks from
the scene of the fire. Two ladders were put up the side of the
house, but the fire was so hot and the smoke so dense the firemen
could not penetrate the part of the building where the body was
later found.

"The intense heat of the room had baked the body. The skin
had peeled off the face and hands, and the hair was scorched off
her head. The fact that her clothing was not burned indicated
that she had not been actually touched by the fire, but dropped
overcome by the smoke, and the heat of the room did the rest.

" Medical Examiner W. W. Knight was called, and he
questioned Ladderman Collins about the finding of the body. The
body was lying on the floor near a window, and it is believed that
the old iwoman, who had been left sleeping some time before
the fire started, awoke to find the place on fire and that when she
found that she could not get to the stairs, her only means of
escape, she tried to get back to the window of her sitting-room,
but was overcome by the smoke before she got there.

" The house is an old one, and was originally a four-family
tenement, with two tenements on a floor on each side of the
brick block. It had been made over into a six-family block,
however, and while the tenement house laws call for two means
of egress to the ground from each tenement, there was only one
from the third floor, and that is why the old woman could not be
saved in the early stages of the fire."

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io8 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Lawrence Needs No More Disasters

Three years ago the fire underwriters said concerning ex-
plosives and inflammables in Lawrence : " The City laws are very
meager and are not being enforced." The citizens cannot claim
that they must wait for an explosion in Lawrence to make them
feel that gunpowder will do there what it does elsewhere. They
cannot claim that they must wait for a disaster in Lawrence like
that in Brooklyn before making all buildings safe, or wait for
another sweeping conflagration in New England before estab-
lishing an extensive fire district. They cannot claim that any
exigencies in the building business, no matter what they are, make
it necessary to wait for twelve or fifteen blocks of windowless
houses before light and ventilation shall be required by law. The
long period of indifference or ineffective interest ought to end.

The Social Results of Bad Housing

Such centers as the one in Lawrence are not only seriously
wrong, but especially dangerous to the common welfare, because of
the new-comers who are filling the centers. In each of the three
states, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New York, among every
three persons only one has parents who were born in this country.
In Lawrence, among every five persons four are the children of
foreign-born parents. The English-speaking element in Lawrence
is large, but in the last decade the nouTEnglish speaking element
has been growing rapidly.

This is adding to our problems rapidly. Already the
great majority of those who live in the crowded districts of the
cities are persons from countries where the theory and practice
of democracy either do not exist or have not progressed as in
this country. Good citizenship is based on the moral integrity
of individuals. We cannot have good citizens who use honestly
and intelligently the opportunity to control our city affairs unless
as children they are protected and helped in houses that are
worthy the name homes. Many tenement houses at the center in
/Lawrence are permanently injuring the child^ife that is in jthem..
Because of the dim light, eyes are being strained and the rooms.

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THE CENTER'S FUTURE 109

are not being properly cleaned. Children are being brought up
Jn rooms where it is constantly possible to see into and across
the bed-rooms of other tenements, because they are so near. Dark
halls^t night are universal; yet they offer grave mofal~risk for
the young, as many realize who know the life in the tenements.
Some of the most important testimony taken by the New York
1900 tenement house commission shows what potent adjuncts
dark halls are in demoralizing and ruining the lives of young
people. The overcrowding of tenements with numerous boarders
is demoralizing. The presence of dissolute tenants, especially the
women, is debasing.

There are other social results of poor houses. We are
inclined to consider the dimly lighted tenement too superficially.
It is not a home but a tool-box. The gloomy rooms are not )
only not attractive but actually drive the children and many an/
adult into the street and away from the home. To the many oth\^
forces which are constantly interfering with family life, drawing
and keeping the members of the family away from each other,
we are allowing the repellant home to be added. The members
of a family ought to know each other better. We need better
and stronger home influ ence, to preserve and foster the integrity
"oT the individuals; and we are not wise, if we do not see that
Ibad housing has a distinct, deteriorating influence on character;
while on the character of the individuals the stability of our
institutions is based.

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" Since things alter for the worse
spontaneously, if they be never
altered for the better designedly,
how is the evil to stop?"

—BACON

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THE REMEDY

It is mid-day. The time for inaction is long passed. But
action should be in the direction that will lead to the speediest,
the most fundamental and the most secure rehef. It is extremely
doubtful whether adequate, effective action for the control of the
conditions in Lawrence is attainable through any city legislation.
Those among its citizens who know the city best and have the
best interests of the city near their heart know better than the
public knows what an extremely weak, and exceptionally broken
assembly of peoples the city is. Though the pride of the
individuals in their city may be as great as it is in most cities, the
best of the citizens if they are honest with themselves must quietly
acknowledge the fact. But the fact because of its relation to the
housing condition is not one that can be merely quietly asserted.
It must be openly faced, publicly asserted, if the help is to be
secured that will bring in adequate remedies. It is not just to the
better citizens in Lawrence to speak of it in direct comparison
with other cities. The citizens with influence and civic ideals are
too few. The prospect of successfully controlling the building
of houses in the indefensibly congested center cannot be considered
without mentioning the absence of the mill owners as residents.
Stated baldly, Lawrence is an appendage to the textile industries —
a tool-room attached to a workshop. Many cities have such
economic balance within themselves that they are far more
integers than Lawrence and far better able to take care of them-
selves. The city is woefully weak because there is lacking in the
control of its civic affairs, the direct sense of shame and personal
responsibility and the efficient, public-spirited, controlling interest
which the mill owning families would have, if they were residents.
Because the mill owners live outside of the city, the housing
problem is a state problem, and can be solved only by state
legislation.

. This is true of other factory cities in New England. The
economic power of the corporation over-shadows and dominates

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112 LAWRENCE SURVEY

for corporate purposes the weak city government in which the
owners of the corporations as individuals and citizens have no
responsibility and little interest, because they are not residents. To
these political units, which are not economic units, or are so out
of balance with the economic facts, the theory of home rule is
ill-suited.

Our economic relations have greatly changed. This is
remarkably well exemplified by the early relations of the textile
employers to their employees as tenants. The mill owners founded
the town for their manufacturing purpose. It was a component
part of their project. They planned painstakingly for it and its
welfare. They built sewers at their own expense and planted
ornamental trees and shrubbery. For their employees they built
houses that were large, but considering their date, exceedingly
good houses. Some are still in use and are superior to many of
the houses that are being built in the center now. For certain
streets they stipulated that no lot should have on it more than
one house and no house contain more than one family. They
limited the height of and specified material for buildings on the
main business street. But their intentions extended beyond the
founding of the town as a business project.

What we call the industrial revolution had at that time
brought in machines and factories in large numbers, but had not
yet spoiled the feelings of the employers. Their point of view was
that of the employing artisan toward his apprentice. Large
numbers of the employees were unmarried and away from home.
Boarding-houses were maintained or controlled by the companies
at a low profit, and sometimes at an annual expense, for the
purpose of preserving a proper supervision over the operatives.
The mill agents were chosen as men who had wisdom for super-
vision of the houses as well as the mills. By rules and regulations
posted in all the houses, the attempt was made to safeguard not
only the physical welfare of the tenants, but their moral and
religious life. Men and women were not allowed in the same
boarding-house. Tenants were cautioned to pay particular atten-
tion to the cleanliness and daily ventilation of their rooms, were
required to keep a quiet bed-room for the sick, and were vaccinated

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THE REMEDY 113

at the office of the company at the company's expense. They were
required to be in the house by ten o'clock at night, were expected
to keep their twelve to fourteen year old children constantly in
school, and were expected to attend divine service on the Sabbath.
The corporation furnished a library and maintained a relief fund.
We may smile when we first read their rules, but our sober second
thought ought to bring us a deep feeling of gratitude that the
philanthropic purpose in the employers was once so strong. What
we smile at is the method of expressing the purpose, because the
method is so ill-suited to our present social conditions. The com-
panies were not many years in finding this out. The surveillance
of course proved too troublesome. They learned the lesson that
some other industrial corporations have yet to learn. They ceased
to be landlords long ago, and have thus escaped the tangled
relationship which made the town of Pullman a failure for many
years, and has given serious trouble at Ludlow and elsewhere.

Recently one of the largest mill corporations has resumed
this relationship in Lawrence, to the extent of building in 1907-8-9
houses for 142 families. Fifty-two are in cottages of exceedingly
good design. They are on large lots, and serve as a benefit to a
few families, an attractive feature of the town and an advertise-
ment to the company. The rest of the houses are good houses,
almost too good to be interesting to commercial builders. In view
of the fact that this Company employs from three to four thousand
operatives who rent apartments, the 142 apartments in these good
houses are as a drop in a bucket. If anyone asserts that the
purpose of the corporation in maintaining the houses as a financial
burden is to benefit the employees, he should be asked whether the
method is not still missing fire like an old flint-lock gun.

There are other great civic needs in Lawrence besides the
housing conditions. It is symptomatic of a general condition. We
can, any of us, dream in a Utopian manner of an interest among
the mill owners that would make them willing to say definitely to
their representatives in Lawrence : " We feel that the city has
reached a position which demands some of your attention and
time, and we are willing that you should consider yourself free to
participate in any civic movement which seems to you to be worth

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114 LAWRENCE SURVEY

while for the immediate betterment of the city's affairs. In fact
the need there is sufficient to make us desire to have your influence
count even though in some particulars your activities should tem-
porarily work against our interest as a corporation. We will trust
your judgment. You will be acting as an individual. You are
not representing the corporation; but in the end you are working
for the corporation's best interests, and we shall so regard the
time you spend in enterprises that are genuinely for the best
interest of the city as a whole."

Dreams sometimes come true, but even if this one should,
it is doubtful whether the actual results achieved could be more
than a partial remedy for the housing conditions. The forces at
work are too deep and too strong. Huddling people together
is a disease. It generates profits that are a poison, intoxicating
the whole community. With unusually strong religious prejudices
and race hatreds, and with the absence of those who conduct its
chief enterprises, such a community would seem to have the chances
all against its being able to cure itself.

The citizens who are genuinely interested in the city's welfare
will welcome the day that wipes out the fictitious lines of the
present political unit and establishes the unit more nearly according
to the economic facts by including in it the towns, Methuen and
the Andovers. Lawrence needs state legislation.

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THE STATE'S DIRE NEED IS HOUSING
LEGISLATION

Contemporaneously with a cholera epidemic in 1849, Lemuel
Shattuck, one of Boston's citizens, became actively interested in
securing healthful living conditions. With two others he was
appointed by the state legislature to bring in a report on the
conditions. ** The report of the Sanitary Commission of Massa-
chusetts: 1850" is a historical document of 500 pages, simple
in its purpose and comprehensive in its argument for the estab-
lishment of a State Board of Health. It was chiefly a housing
investigation and so is one of the earliest in the country. Besides
describing the conditions in the center of Boston, it presents in
about thirty pages a sanitary survey of Lawrence, to illustrate one
of its chief objects, namely : " We recommend that special sanitary
surveys of particular cities, towns and localities be made from time
to time, under the direction of the general Board of Health."

The examination of Lawrence, then a town of 8,000, was
quite comprehensive and has preserved a picture of its life in the
early days as no other book has. It has much praise for the living
conditions found there. One of its conclusions concerning the
town is especially interesting in view of the present congestion.
"We recommend that every practical effort be made to prevent
crowding too many houses upon one lot and too many families
or persons into one house."

It is a melancholy fact that this young town that happened
to be chosen as a field to illustrate a method for improving living/
conditions should have developed since that time the most coh^
gested center in New England, apart from Boston. But Lawrence
is fortunate in having some citizens who are interested in finding
out the facts and willing to face them publicly. Outside of Boston
it is the first city in the state to have a formal housing investiga-
tion and print an extensive report. It is fitting that Lawrence
should call the attention of the other cities to the state- wide need
for housing legislation.

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ii6 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The direct arguments for state control of housing which
have been set forth by Mr. Lawrence Veiller in his book " Housing
Reform," are incontrovertible, and there is no state that needs
such legislation more than Massachusetts. No other state has an
equal urban population distributed in many cities. There are
twenty-seven cities and one town that have populations of more
than 20,000. Sixty-two per cent of the people in the state live
in cities of more than 30,000. An increase in population of more
than 30 per cent each decade is common. The prices of real estate
at the centers are going up by leaps and bounds — frequently
doubling in less than ten years. There is being repeated in many
of the centers, the crowding of houses which has been going on
in Boston for one hundred years and has made its center notorious.
Into already congested centers, large, poorly-lighted new houses
are being crowded rapidly. For a century their dark rooms will
continue to drive occupants into the street and foster disease as
much as the old houses. With greater fire risks, conditions
identical with those of New York's East Side are increasing yearly.

Yet the state law has practically no housing requirements and
the ordinances in the majority of the cities are either worthless
or ignore the subject of light, ventilation and sanitation. In a
few cities such as Cambridge, Worcester and Lowell, there are
a few fair requirements.

But most of the real and best housing interests of the cities
are wholly unprovided for. Nine out of ten of the building codes
treat of no other subject than fire protection and structural safety,
and for these two purposes many of them are gravely inadequate.

Consider the requirements for part of the sanitary equipment,
the water-closets. There is no requirement concerning the number
of water-closets that shall be placed in a house in eleven cities;
and in a twelfth city the requirement is one for every twelve
persons, a method of measurement that is almost useless. Three
cities permit water-closet windows to open on a shaft of three
square feet area, three others permit flues of six to eight inches;
seven accept in place of a window the small two-inch pipe known
as the local vent; two say the ventilation shall be " adequate," and
six cities have no requirement. Practically no one of the cities
has anything to say about the floors.

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THE STATE'S DIRE NEED 117

In securing building codes from the twenty-seven cities which
have a population of more than 20,000, it was found that two
cities have no code, and four codes were out of print. Among
twenty-one codes, fifteen speak of the space from the sides of a
house to the side lot line, specifying distances that range from
1.5 feet to three feet, with only one city requiring four feet;
such restrictions in all codes being made applicable to frame build-
ings only. Six codes are silent on the subject. Five codes only
have anything to say about yards. Two codes only speak of
courts. Shafts and light-wells are almost unmentioned. Only
three codes have anything to say about the size or presence of a
window in a room. Life is too short even to read a summary of
all the important matters upon which these codes are silent.

If one glances casually into the paragraphs of many of the
codes, he is impressed with the fact that they read well. Some
of them have good requirements, very good requirements. But
the impression that the paragraphs are good is not sufficient basis
for judgment of the code as a whole. Such impression is based
on an altogether too meager view, — the comparison of these
paragraphs with nothing. We ought to read the building code
of our city with a point of view different from that. In view of
the rapid growth of these cities and their centers; in view of the
present pressing need that conflagration hazard and fire waste be
reduced, not augmented; that old houses be improved; that all
houses be maintained in safe and serviceable, clean and sanitary
conditions; that every new house shall for all time have adequate
light and ventilation; in view of these needs, most of the present
building ordinances are so ineffective and archaic as to be fit
chiefly for a place in a historical library under the label, " The
first crude playthings of the infant cities." This is not extrava-
gant language spoken by an ideklist. The better class of architects
know and acknowledge it to be true and the prominent insurance
men are active in proclaiming the fact to the public.

The General Court of Massachusetts is one of the few legis-
latures that persists in meeting annually. It holds long sessions
and has created innumerable commissions: it has the commission
habit. Yet none of the commissions in recent years has been on

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ii8 LAWRENCE SURVEY

housing, except the Homestead Commission, established June 30,
191 1. This act provided for a permanent, unpaid commission of
seven to report plans whereby, with the assistance of the Com-
monwealth, homesteads may be acquired by workmen in the
suburbs of the cities and towns. As an attempt to foster com-
munities like the garden cities of England such legislation, though
desirable, is but a slight palliative. It does not deal with the
problems discussed in this report. The Legislature has jealously
held with tight hand to its great power over the cities; yet the
sum total of its acts for the control of houses in a state which
has twenty-seven large, rapidly-growing cities is a few trivial and
ineffective paragraphs.*

In contrast with this most deplorable lack of legislation as
it existed in January, 1912, we may well place the statement of
one of Massachusetts' most prominent men.

" We cannot push the troubles and cares of working
men and women into the background, and trust that all
will come out right in the end. Practical measures are
plentiful enough:" among others: "economical and
energetic municipal governments; proper building laws.
Here are matters of great pith and moment, more
important, more essential, more pressing than any others,
They must be met: they cannot be shirked or evaded."

These are the words of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge spoken
twenty-eight years ago.

Lawrence at that time was a city of 38,000 and the history
of its center would have been far different if action to remedy the
need that was then recognized had not been delayed through all
these years.

But the national prize for procrastination in housing legis-
lation is held by Boston. Boston began having housing

* Just after the completion of this report a bill was introduced into
the Legislature and passed May, 1912, which gives permission to the
towns to enact the housing regulations therein specified. The legislation
has nothing -to do with the cities considered in this report. It serves
for the towns as a model law which has received the stamp of approval
by the State Legislature. They may adopt it, if they choose.

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THE STATE'S DIRE NEED 119

investigations almost as early as New York. The 1849 report of
the cholera epidemic shows the crowded tenement districts in clear
and definite lines. The report of the Sanitary Commission of
1850 not only sets forth at length the evils of bad houses in
Boston and London, but states the need for prevention, rather
than cure so clearly that it reads as if it had been written for our
needs as we see them now.

After citing various philanthropic purposes, the report con-
tinues: ''A great amount of labor and money are spent in the
propagation of these sentiments. But how few of such persons
{the philanthropic) apparently turn aside to notice the thousands
of lives that are unnecessarily sacrificed — the social murders and
suicides that are daily occurring around us on account of the
existing evils which might be removed. If the same zeal, labor
and money were expended in diffusing correct sanitary inform-
ation among the people, in removing the causes of diseases which
prey upon them, — how many more lives might be saved. We
woidd not lisp a zvord against the great charities, nor wish the
contributions to them had been smaller. It may, however, be
stated that the number of recipients of these charities is com-
paratively few and limited. They comprehend a very small part
only of the great masses of the people. And there is no doubt
that if the same amount of money which our measure might
require were applied to the careful ascertainment of the causes, a
much greater number of beneficiaries might be assisted. All along
we have endeavored to prove that prevention is better than cure.
We urge the removal of the causes that produce the misery which
these streams of benevolence are applied to alleviate." This is not
" Boston — 1915 " but Boston — 1850.

Since 1850 numerous investigations have taken place with
little or no adequate result beyond the printed report. Until, after
all these years, the last word at the opening of 1912 is a small
pamphlet which bears the significant title, " Boston's Housing
Problem — Preliminary Report." It professedly takes up the
work of the Housing Committee of " Boston — 1915 " where that
committee left it, saying that the needs have been sufficiently
investigated; hence its pages are devoted to the discussion of

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I20 LAWRENCE SURVEY

so-called remedies. There is but one remedy — and that is barely
alluded to in the report. Nothing is said of legislation directly.
It asserts the duty of the city not to bear down heavily on the
holders of small equities in tenement houses as if, inferentially,
this is an insurmountable obstacle and ought to dispel from the
mind of the reader any consideration of legislation.

Of course the word preliminary in the title of this last pam-
phlet merely means that it is the first report of another new group
who are beginning to take an interest in housing, and that fact
leads one to wonder what has become of the interest of the men
who brought in all the previous reports. When the need has so
long been so pressing and overwhelmingly great, the fact that all
reports have been so fruitless should in itself be a subject for serious
study and report. For Boston's history in this subject is not dif-
ferent from New York's through all the years of its dire need for
action up to the year 1900. There, too, reports had accomplished
almost nothing, while the most dangerous and defective houses
were being added by the thousands for every year of delay. From
1900 on, the preeminently singular fact among a score of salient
facts is that the small group of men who were active in the 1900
tenement house commission were just as active twelve years later
and just as single in purpose. Apparently for them the main-
tenance of a decent law well administered that prevents the
construction of the worst houses admits of no action on their part
in any tangential line, tax reform, model houses, city planning or
any other. The results have been most remarkable.

Chicago has a strikingly similar historical fact in another
field of activity. A handful of men around a stationer began to
tell in the bulletins of the Municipal Voters League who, and
exactly who with all their characteristics, were being nominated
for election as aldermen. The majority of the men in the council
chamber for years had been venal, and the city's streets were about
to be sold to the street railways for fifty years. The League's
succinct statements based on comprehensively minute examination
continued for at least a decade to appear just prior to each
election; but they gave no advice on any other candidates than
those for council and on no public questions. By this method

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THE STATE'S DIRE NEED 121

this very small group of men turned the council inside out in time
to save the streets and kept it renovated.

In contrast with innumerable reports brought in by different
' groups at different times and bearing no results, what we have in
these two historical instances seems to be: A program so simple
that it can be stated in a sentence, yet is fundamentally adequate,
adhered to undeviatingly through a long period. The prime need
in Massachusetts where so many centers are crying to heaven for
preventive legislation is a small group of wise men with money,
who care, will keep on caring and will keep together. To secure
a good law, keep it and keep it well enforced cannot be accom-
plished in one or two winters, nor can it be accomplished by the
intermittent attention of any number of social workers.

The hardships involved in new legislation are not extensive.
The wiping out of the equities of small owners is a minor incident,
full of hardship for a very few, but not adequate ground for
further criminal waiting. This hardship was not a convincing
argument to a single judge in all the various courts up to and
including the United States Supreme Court, through which the
historic Katie Moeschen case passed, though it was the main
argument in that case. It is not a convincing argument after all
these years during which the introduction of new machines has
been displacing so many industrial workers. The hardships of a
few can not be placed over against the welfare and progress of
the whole community.

If this is true of those who at present hold control by small
equities over tenement houses, what shall we say of their right to
build new tenement houses at the crowded centers? They build
wretched houses. One of the worst of the recently built tenements
in Lawrence was constructed under the control of a laborer, who
makes his living delivering baskets of coal on his back. He has
secured control of a lot adjoining his first house and is planning
to erect a second one of these wretched beehives for twelve
families. One of the worst new rear buildings, less than four
years old, was constructed under the control of another recent
immigrant whose family lives in a small house which he owns,
in the front of the lot. His aged mother sleeps in a windowless

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122 LAWRENCE SURVEY

room ; his wife and daughter are kept hard at work in the kitchen
for boarders, and he is away all summer on his truck farm. He
was planning to erect soon a second wretched tenement at the
frorit of the lot. Such hard-working but ignorant and unskilled
laDorers, whose sole object is the saving of money ^md whose
>/standard for themselves and their families is often miserable, are
able to save one or two thousand dollars. They have no sense
of civic responsibility and not the slightest ability to design a
house for that most difficult of sites, the narrow city lot. Their
right to own their own home is one thing, and their right to go
into the business of providing and maintaining homes for other
people, under no control, is quite a different matter. Such men
a^ these apply to the banks and secure, many times with little or
no examination of plans, loans that make it possible for them
to burden the future of the city with their low standards built into
a house. This is not peculiar to Lawrence; it is taking place in
all the cities of Massachusetts. The wretched houses that are
being thus constructed will last from sixty to one hundred years,
and they will cost the cities dearly in weakened lives and lowered
standards.

There are twenty-seven reasons why the state should not
enact any housing legislation. They are the groups of men who
are taking inordinate profits in the houses at the centers of the
twenty-seven cities. There are twenty-seven other groups of men
who would be found favoring the legislation, especially after they
consider what it means to them. These are men who know what
a good building is and are doing their best to construct only that
kind. They have been and they will increasingly be forced into
bad construction, because they are in competition with unre-
strained, conscienceless or ignorant builders. There is no doubt
that they will welcome housing legislation. Naturally some of
them may hold back from favoring some of the standards that
might be enacted, but their approval would be forthcoming shortly,
if they were to inquire into the experience of other cities. One
reason why the hardship of new high standards is more mythical
than real, is because every builder at first thinks of himself alone
as complying with the standards. In reality, all builders bear the

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THE STATE'S DIRE NEED 123

change, and the figures of the better builders can be made to
accommodate themselves to the standards.

The two strongest arguments against a state law are, first
that minimum standards enacted will level down some of the
construction now taking place, and second that it would be
almost impossible to make a law which equitably deals with the
varying conditions that exist in different cities. To illustrate the
possible leveling down effect of the law, let us consider the open
space between the side wall of a house and its lot. Some builders
who are now making the width of this space, without a law, six
or seven feet, might with a law leave only the minimum demanded
and that might not be more than five or six feet. Thus a
considerable number of houses might be given some less light
than they would have been given, if the law had not been passed.
It is conjectural, of course, how extensive such leveling would
be. The reason why six or seven feet and more is now left by
some builders is, they believe the houses are better houses, —
have more value in them. It is questionable whether there would
be any considerable leveling, except possibly in a narrow zone just
at the edge around the centers. Even if it were positively
determinable that there would be considerable leveling, the idea
that it should be avoided by allowing the centers to fill up solidly
with any kind of construction is untenable.

The loss made by the law is far outweighed by gains. Con-
sider the question of leveling down in connection with a minimum-
sized room. The minimum in the New York law of seventy
square feet floor space was enacted for the most exceptional
crowding on the face of the earth. Outside of Boston's wretched
center there is no reason for enacting a standard anywhere near
so low. If we can judge from the conditions in Lawrence, the
cities have not been constructing any considerable number of
rooms nearly so small as seventy square feet. In general the
public has not become accustomed to such small rooms, and will
not rent them. It ought to be possible, now, to enact a require-
ment for cities outside of Boston that no room shall have less
than ninety or one hundred square feet. But will that be possible
ten years from now? Already in Lawrence in some of the newest

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124 LAWRENCE SURVEY

houses there are rooms of seventy-five and eighty square feet.
They are occupied by recent immigrants and they have lot Hne
windows. Evidently, the point has been reached already in
Lawrence where the large returns desired must come from making
the rooms smaller and forcing people to become used to them.
No matter how many rooms would be leveled' down by the enact-
ment of a hundred-foot minimum now, they do not outweigh the
probability of having to accept ten years from now a minimum
of seventy square feet.

To write a law that would deal equitably with the varying
conditions in the different cities is neither impossible nor almost
impossible, but simply difficult. The housing problem is of
course a group of problems in any city, and when we add the
differences that exist between cities, as Springfield contrasted with
Lawrence, Chicopee with Pittsfield, etc., we have made the
question somewhat complex. Yet it is seriously questionable
whether our sense of the complications is not due to too hurried
and superficial consideration of the subject. Lowell has a center
full of bad old houses and has indefensibly bad new houses, but
the Lawrence center has not been duplicated there. It is probably
demonstrable that the house huddle in Lawrence is not due to
the wage scale. It is chiefly difference in wages that would make
any reason for thinking the standards of a state law ought not
to be equally applicable in all the cities. For the other elements
are all common, — the human need for safety, sanitary equipment,
light and air. To secure these, irreducible minimum standards
would seem to be related only indirectly to the character of the
population or the locality. If the same social foresight will
prevail in housing legislation that has already prevailed in some
of the state legislation, it will make the common need for safety,
sanitary equipment, light and air, the all controlling factor in the
' question. Without doubt, the law should be specific in its demands
and they should be based on an extended examination of the facts
gathered and related in a scientific spirit.

Massachusetts will find a way to meet the need. Anyone
would have thought that Boston's crooked streets would have
been one of the last places for a trial of cars with trolley poles and

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THE STATE'S DIRE NEED . 125

wires. Yet Boston was one of the first of the largest cities to
make use of such arrangements. Boston's center needed the
electric power more than most cities. The transportation per-
plexities in Boston, with such traffic as one hundred and twenty
cars per hour passing steadily through Tremont Street, and with
a most difficult topography, made one of the worst problems in
the country. But Boston was one of the first cities to come some-
where near adequately solving her transportation problem, and
apparently she is doing more than many cities in keeping pace
with it. The exceptionally great need brought the adequate and
seemingly impossible remedy.

The statement that the need for restrictive housing legislation
is greater in Massachusetts than in any other state is probably
unquestionable, based on the present lack of legislation, the total
number of lives involved, the number of urban centers and the
speed with which those centers are filling. Massachusetts has an
exceptionally great opportunity to lead the other states in estab-
lishing and maintaining an adequate remedy. The subject is,
primarily, a question of public health. Massachusetts was the first
state to establish a State Board of Health with state-wide
functions.

No state law meets the need that does not provide adequately
for supervising the local administration of the law. Connecticut
has a fair state law and no provision for direct or indirect watch-
care of its enforcement. New Jersey has direct state enforcement
of a law that is most seriously defective. State supervision of a
locally administered law has yet to be effected. If a permanent
housing commission of the dignity and status of the Railroad
Commission were not established, Massachusetts has already estab-
lished, and was among the first states to establish, state inspectors
of health, with whom the supervision of a State housing law could
be placed. It was the first state to establish a health district system
with physicians as state inspectors. These physicians are doing
pioneer work in demonstrating that factory and tenement house
hygiene are a part of community hygiene.

No state law would meet the need that did not require that
the cities shall keep uniform statistics and that the statistics shall

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126 • LAWRENCE SURVEY

be subject to a ready verification as is demanded in auditing
financial accounts. The statements of a city department concerning
its activity in enforcing the law must be based upon records which
can be readily examined and verified. It must also be possible to
compare the working of the law in the various cities, and that
would require uniform statistics. In its bureau of statistics,
Massachusetts has already adopted the principle of demanding
uniform financial statistics from all its cities and towns. It was
among the first to do this, and is leading the others in its
accomplishment.

The long list of progressive movements in which Massachu-
setts stands first and near the first is an earnest that the shameful
neglect of the housing conditions will not continue much longer.

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HOUSING, MISCELLANY AND TABLES

Stairs With Winding Treads

The New York state law excludes from all stairs, except those
in elevator houses, every step which is not of uniform width
throughout its length, that is, the triangular treads. They are com-
mon current practice with architects in Lawrence. There are ap-
proximately 600 such triangular steps in seventy of the houses ex-
amined. By day these steps are a trap for unwary feet, especially
for the very young and very old. They are constantly an unmit-
igated nuisance and danger for every one in unlighted halls at
night. They are extremely dangerous at time of panic in a fire at
night. If thousands and thousands of houses have been built for
ten years in New York without these steps, it is a fair question to
raise whether they are necessary in Lawrence.

The Number of Persons in Apartments

The proportion of apartments which contained more than one
family is as follows.

The number of families in each apartment is:

More than
Two

Two

More than
One

Common Street

21 per cent

40 per cent

61 per cent

Valley

1 If («

14 " "

IS " "

Oak

" "

22 " «

22 " "

Oxford

« «

** "

" "

The following statements apply to the Common Street half-
blocks. In the twenty-two per cent (forty-two apartments) where
there are more than two families in each apartment, there are 460
persons living, an average of eleven persons per apartment.

In forty-one apartments there is an average of more than
three persons in each room, excluding the kitchen. Each of six
apartments is the home for fourteen persons, one for fifteen, and
one for eighteen ; all the apartments having four ;-ooms besides a

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128 LAWRENCE SURVEY

kitchen. The rate of four persons per room is reached in the
apartment where eighteen live and also in another apartment where
eight persons hve in two rooms and kitchen.

The average number of persons per apartment was as follows :
in the two half-blocks at the east end of Common Street, the average
was eight; in one of the Valley Street half-blocks, 6.5; in the
other, 6; in the Oak Street half-block, 5.9; and in Oxford Street, 46.

Air Shafts ; Windowless Halls; Small Rooms.

Air shafts that serve solely water closets and bath-rooms are
being constructed in Brooklyn. The area required in a three-story
house is at least fourteen square feet, in a four-story house at least
seventeen square feet. There can be no dimension less than four
feet, no hall or room window opening to the shaft, no roof of any
kind, and at the bottom there must be a horizontal duct of four
square feet to furnish a supply of fresh air.

In the six half-blocks four air shafts were .measured where
the area is less than ten square feet. A fifth has twelve square feet.
One of the shafts is the only source of light and ventilation for
eight living rooms, the other shafts serve 26 water closets, 19 sink
rooms and one living room.

In the district examination there were found 20 air shafts
which do not serve living rooms, six of them have areas smaller
than would be required in Brooklyn practice. All the shafts are
covered with a skylight; a few are open to the cellar and no one
of them has a duct supplying fresh air at the bottom. The shafts
serve 115 water closets and 50 sink rooms. This location of the
sink rooms which are the work rooms for the women is seriously
defective in ventilation and light.

Among twenty-two stair halls where there are no windows,
there are nine that have no skylight. A skylight that serves to light
halls ought to be twenty square feet in area and there should be
immediately under it that open space at the side of the stairs which
is called the stair well. This stair well to be effective should be at
least twelve inches wide. There are five windowless stair halls
where the skylights have an area less than eleven square feet, and

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HOUSING 129

in four of them there are no stair wells. In sixteen of the halls
where there are skylights there are no ventilating attachments.

In the six half-blocks there are no rooms with a strikingly
small floor area excepting in the two half -blocks on Common street.
There twelve rooms in six houses have areas less than seventy
square feet; six of them being from fifty to sixty square feet in
area. Eleven were used as bed-rooms.

In the windowless rooms mentioned on page 64 the area of
the intercommunicating window is less than six square feet in each
of eleven rooms. In two others there is an area from ten to twelve
square feet. Among the remaining eight where the area is more
than fifteen square feet, in four rooms the large interior windows
secure no secondary light, and they are practically dark rooms.

Percentage of Occupancy on Corner Lots

On corner lots less than 50 feet wide, less than 90 per cent
of the lot should be occupied, and there ought to be a rear yard of
not less than five feet for the full width of the lot. In nine corner
lots two are occupied to the extent of 95.5 per cent, and there is
no yard whatever on either lot. On another lot where the per-
centage of occupancy is not too high, the rear yard is less than two
feet deep.

There is another class of corner lots where instead of a second
street at the side of the house, a fourteen-foot alley occurs. A
house on such a corner does not receive more than a third as much
light as one on an ordinary street corner. It ought not to occupy
more than 75 percent of the lot. There are five such corners in
these six half-blocks; and on one of them the house occupies 91.7
percent and has no rear yard. In two others 82 to 85 percent is
occupied, one of the rear yards being 3ft. 6in. in depth.

The Open Spaces on the Lots

Concerning the open spaces at various points around a house,
there are one or two terms which have the same meaning in nearly
all laws, but there are some spaces for which there is no one term
commonly used. If a name is to be given them, it has to be ex-
plained.

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I30 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Rear yard in this report means the space between a house and
an alley or rear lot line. Such spaces in connection with corner lots
have been mentioned. There are two rear yards on interior lots
less than 7.5 feet deep; one 16 feet deep; the rest more than 25 feet.
In the majority of the lots there is either a rear house on the alley
line and so no rear yard or else there is only a front house with a
rear yard of good depth.

Interior yard means the space between front and rear houses.
If such a yard were to occur in connection with new tenement
houses in the Connecticut cities it would have to be thirty feet deep.
It is prohibited in Brooklyn on lots less than fifty feet in width, and
on other lots it would have to be twenty- four feet deep. Hence
there are practically no interior yards. In effect they have been out-
lawed. In the six half -blocks examined there are forty-one such
spaces; ten of them less than 7.5 feet in depth; nineteen from 7.5
to 12; eleven from 12 to 24; one 25 feet.

By side court is meant the space at the side of a house, if such
space extends fully from the front to the rear of the house. The
widths found in the side courts are shown in the following state-
ment. There is no reference in it to any other walls than those
which contain windows to living rooms. The distance of such
walls to the opposite side lot line is as follows:

on the lot line

12 walls

less than a foot

18 "

I to 2 feet

31 "

2 feet to 2.7 feet

35 "

2.8 feet to 4 feet

30 "

These figures should be related with the commonly accepted prin-
ciple that in the matter of light every house should be entirely in-
dependent of adjoining lots.

An outer court is the open space at the side of the house that
does not extend through for the full depth of the house. In the
six half-blocks examined, among five such spaces located on the lot
line, one is 2.7 feet wide; the others four feet or more. Outer courts
between the wings of a house ought to be at least 8 feet wide.

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HOUSING 131

Among ten such courts nine have a width less than eight feet

and serve altogether sixty-seven living rooms. The following are
the details.

In Widths Rooms

One court 6.7 feet 6

Six courts 4 to 6 " 49

Two " 3.2 " 12

There are in the two districts houses where 105 living rooms re-
ceive their light from 18 outer courts in which the widths are less
than eight feet. All these courts are between the wings of a double
house. Their widths and the number of living rooms they serve is
as follows:

In Widths Rooms

Seven courts 6 to 8 feet 38

Seven " 4 to 6 " 43

Four " 4 feet or less 24

Many of these outer courts contain various encroachments
such as porches or balconies and several are thus almost completely
filled. One of the narrowest is entirely roofed over with the boards
of a clothes-yard. No obstruction of any kind is allowed in Con-
necticut or v in Brooklyn practice.

Another court not included in those mentioned above is situated
between wings. A roof covers all of it and stairs and porches oc-
cupy the greater part of it, but the porches are intermitted at the
inner end, more than 25 feet from the rear of the building. A
skylight is placed over this open space, making what might be de-
scribed as a porch well. Six bed-rooms and water closets are lighted
from this well, but the amount of light secured in the two lower
floors is very meager, the bed-rooms having almost no light.

An inuer court is open space that is wholly surrounded by
a house, or is bounded on three sides by the same house, and on the
fourth side by a lot line. Two such courts on lot lines serving three
living-rooms each occur in two four-story houses located in the
two districts examined. One of these courts is eight feet long,
where Brooklyn and Connecticut practice would require it to be
fourteen feet. The other is three feet wide, and 10 feet deep, as
against a standard of eight feet wide by 14 feet deep.

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132 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The American Woolen Company's Houses

From 1906 to 19 10 the American Woolen Company built in
South Lawrence houses for 142 families as follows: Twelve one-
family houses for overseers; fifty-two cottages; forty-two one-
family, two-story brick houses; six three-story three- family frame
houses; and three six-family frame houses. All these houses are
superior to most houses that have been erected by manufacturing
/companies, and they are superior to most of the commercially
built houses in Lawrence. The most interesting as homes for
working people are the cottages and the two-story brick houses.

The following description of the single family brick houses
is given by the architect who built them, Mr. James E. Allen of
Lawrence.

Six buildings erected by the American Woolen Company on
Market Street, for occupancy by their operatives are perhaps worthy
of more than passing mention, not that any new type of building
has been evolved but that an old type, the Philadelphia House so
called, has been carefully studied, improved as regards the interior
arrangement of its rooms, and carefully designed as regards its
exterior with the result that very comfortable, economically ar-
ranged interiors and particularly pleasing exteriors have been pro-
duced.

The lot of land upon which these six buildings were built has
a street frontage of 475 feet, and is 100 feet in depth, and is sub-
divided into four parts by three forty-five feet private ways ex-
tending from the street to the rear of the lot. The buildings are
fronted upon these private ways which are traversed by eight feet
walks running the entire length with narrower walks leading to the
front doors, and the ground areas between these walks are planted
with shrubbery. The utilization of the land in this way not only
allowed the erection of two more dwellings than would have been
possible had the buildings been faced on the street and been built
in one continuous block of dwellings but also allowed two out of
every seven dwellings to be of five rooms and with light on three
sides. Moreover, it greatly added to the appearance of the street
and buildings and is a plan which might be followed to advantage

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HOUSING 133

ONE OF THE SIX BLOOKS OF SEVEN HOUSES

on land having a depth of 100 feet or more, because each dwelling
by such arrangement occupies, including back yards and propor-
tionate part of the front passageway, an area of about 1130 square
feet, as against an area of 1400 square feet, if fronted on the street
on a lot 100 feet deep.

Each of the buildings is 98 feet, 8 inches long and 39 feet
wide and contains seven dwellings, each with a frontage of four-
teen feet, and a depth of thirty-nine feet, two of which contain
five rooms and five of which contain four rooms, besides front ves-
tibules, rear entries, bathrooms and all necessary pantry and clothes
closets. Each of the dwellings is entirely separated from the others
by a brick partition wall running from cellar bottom to roof and
each has its independent front and rear entrance and a rear piazza
6x10 feet, which is arranged within the main walls of the building
and consequently is included within the size given. Each dwelling
has also its own small back yard, fenced with a wire fence four feet
high.

The plumbing system of one has no connection with that of any
other dwelling, in order that those unoccupied in cold weather may
be properly drained and freezing avoided, and a separate water
meter is provided for each tenant in order that water waste may be
properly traced and corrected.

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134 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The interiors of these houses are quite as unusual to this type
of house as are the exteriors, the arrangement of the rooms and
stairway being such that a single stairway is able to serve as both
front and back stairs and may be approached and entered onto from
either the living room or the kitchen.

The first floor of each dwelling is divided into a small front
vestibule, a moderate sized living room, a generous kitchen together
with the necessary accompaniments of pantry and dish closets, a
back entry of sufficient size to accommodate a refrigerator and the
cosy recessed piazza before mentioned.

The second floor is utilized for bed rooms and bath room,
three bed rooms in the five room dwellings and two in the four room
dwellings, the bath room being so located that a register in the
kitchen ceiling provides the necessary heat in cold weather.

Throughout the buildings the window and door openings have
been placed so as to preserve the greatest amount of unbroken wall
space and in each dwelling one of the bed rooms has been made of
sufficient size to accommodate two beds, thus small houses by skillful
planning have been made comfortable quarters for reasonably large
families.

The buildings are built of common red bricks laid to easy joints
in white mortar, all stone trimmings are of white marble with tooled
surfaces and all wood trimmings including the sash are painted
white. The color combination of the red bricks with the white
stone and wood trimming, taken together with the refinement of
detail in the design of these buildings, their unusual arrangement
on the lot, the avoidance of monotony by harmonious diversity of
exterior treatment of the buildings, which are all of the same floor
arrangement tend to make them much more attractive in appearance
than is the case with most buildings of this type.

While by " rule of thumb " figuring of the " quick return "
speculator it does not seem possible to erect such buildings as these
to compete, on an investment basis, with the larger three and four
storied frame tenement block or even the so called " Three Deckers "
both with their common halls and stairways and other undesirable
features, it is believed that the net returns from such buildings
covering a period of twenty years with their obvious smaller repair
bills and less loss of rent by reason of empties will compare very

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HOUSING 135

favorably with that from the undesirable class of building above
mentioned.

The following description of the cottages was furnished by
the architect who built them, Mr. Perley F. Gilbert of Lowell and
Andover.

The fifty-two cottages are one and one-half story, six room
cottages, covering a ground area of from 576 to 721 square feet,
exclusive of the piazzas and steps. Four of these, however, are
practically two stories high.

They can be built for a sum ranging between $2100 and $2475,
according to the number of buildings erected at one time and to the
particular types of cottages used.

Arranged on the first floor of each cottage is a cosy staircase
hall having a large hall closet, a living-room, dining-room, kitchen,
pantry, china-cupboard, and a large back entry with space for ice
box and storage. On the second floor are the three chambers and
a bath-room, all connected by a well lighted hall and in the attic
there is a place for storage entered by means of a trap door in the
ceiling of the second story hall. All of the bed-rooms are well
ventilated, having windows on two sides of the room. The closets
are very spacious in proportion to the size of the buildings, there
being four in every house and five in the majority of them. Pro-
vision is made so that all of the first .story rooms and two or three
of the chambers may be heated with stoves, and there are floor
registers over the kitchen and dining-room stoves for conveying
warm air to one or two chambers and the bath-room above.

The clear height of the basement is seven feet, of the first, and
second stories about eight feet.

Outside there is considerable individuality, for to each type of
plan there are many variations in the exterior designs : the gambrel
roofs and shingled walls predominating, although there are some
hipped and pitched roofs and a very few clapboarded walls to be
seen. A comfortable and inviting porch may be found on every
house, in fact, every building was designed to secure an attractive
exterior and interior also and to give to the tenant a neat little
home in very many ways superior to the ordinary run of cottage
tenement and yet within reasonable cost limits.

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136 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The prices stated include the following items for each cottage,
viz : — Setting the batters ; the excavation of the cellar under the
whole of the building; f oundation-work ; cemented floor, coal bin,
vegetable closet and bulkhead in cellar; sewer connections; car-
penter-work; brick-work; plastering; clothes posts in yard; hard-
ware ; open plumbing, including sink in pantry, also a water-closet,
lavatory and bath tub in bath-room, supplied throughout with hot
and cold water; gas piping and gas fixtures; painting; wall paper
and picture moulding in every room except that the walls of pantry,
bath-room and kitchen are painted; plate-rail in dining-room; fly-
screens and window shades throughout.

Notes Concerning Figures and Methods

The Figures for New Houses

The records of the office of Building Inspector begin June i, 1906, and
were examined to the date June 30, 191 1. The statistics in the yearly
reports of this office give the houses for which permits were issued. This
is the practice in most cities, but such practice always inclufles figures
concerning a considerable number of houses that are never built. Such
houses are not included in the statement in the first pages of this report.

The figures for new houses, however, do not indicate quite all the
tenements which are constructed each year; for old houses are constantly
being enlarged. One very common form of alteration is the change of a
pitch roof to a flat roof, and one or two tenements are thereby added in
each house, and frequently the house is brought thus from the two tenement
class into the three tenement. The number of tenements which have been
constructed by additions and alterations as shown in the yearly reports
of the building inspector for four and one half years is 283. Alterations
which have involved very extensive changes have been regarded by the
building inspector as new buildings, and have been so recorded.

The House Census

Unlike other cities in New England three or four of the water power
cities are laid out with alleys. Lawrence's alleys occur chiefly at the center.
For convenience in this report the word " block " has been used to mean
the city square surrounded by streets, and " half-block " is given the arbi-
trary meaning, any sub-division of a block made by an alley. One blank
census form for each half-block or block was set up from the Sanborn
insurance map for the most of the city, and from the Richards* atlas for
the rest. The filling of the forms in the field, verified and enlarged the
facts shown upon the maps. The most general summary concerning the
distribution of apartments has already been given on page 33. It shows
"that in the central district the density of apartments is about four and one-
half times the density in the rest of North Lawrence, and more than twelve
times the density in South Lawrence.

Block and District Examination

Besides the house census, including the study of 300 central acres,
the other three methods followed were: a complete investigation of certain

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HOUSING 137

half-blocks, a special examination of two large districts, and an examination
of recently built houses with a study of new building statistics. In the
investigation of the half blocks a 5 in. by 8 in. card form covering about
two hundred items was applied to each house; another card form was
filled out for each apartment; and a lot occupancy form was used in measur-
ing and making sketches of the lot and house dimensions found at each
premise. In the district examination every house was viewed, and a form
filled out for each large house.

Density of Population in Six Half-Blocks

In filling out the apartment cards for the six half-blocks examined a
census was taken of the number of persons living in each apartment. For
this purpose an interpreter was used in the Common Street blocks, and
in a few of the apartments on Oak Street. From the data it is possible
to study the density of population in the six half-blocks as it existed in
the spring of 191 1.

In the spring of 191 1 the number of vacant tenements was unusually
large, the mills were running on part time, rents in several apartments were
said to be twenty-five and fifty cents a week lower than formerly, and ex-
pressions concerning poor business were common. So that an estimate
of the probable density at times when there is regular employment, is not
without value. Computing such density on the basis that half the apart-
ments found vacant would in other seasons be occupied, at the same rate
as the other apartments in the same block, the figures secured are those in
the second column on page 60.

Density in Two Districts

The following statement refers to the table given on page 60, and the
districts mentioned on page 87.

Including one half the surrounding street space, the area for the fourth
half-block is slightly less than an acre, and for each of the others between
one and two acres. It is not possible to secure from the 1910 census the
necessary figures for a comparison of all the foregoing densities with
those of adjacent larger districts. There are, however, available figures
for two districts in which two of these half-blocks occur. One district
lies between Hampshire and Franklin streets, the alley south of Common
Street and Bradford Street. It contains fourteen and nine-tenths acres,
and includes half-block number three. The average density of population
in this district is 216 per acre to be compared with 327 in the half-block.
The other district lies between Hampshire and Lawrence, Oak and Chestnut
streets. It contains 17.3 acres and includes half-block number five. Here
the average density of population is 214 per acre to be compared with 287
in the half-block.

Density in the Central District

The figure 33,700 elsewhere given for 300 acres is chiefly the actual
count made in the federal census. But a few of the census enumeration
districts are split by the boundaries of the central district, and for those
areas the number of apartments, as secured in the house census examina-
tion, was applied to the average size of family in that district. This
method yielded the total, 33,76o.

Four-Story Frame Houses

The figures given for the cities of Massachusetts in the first pages of
the report are not on record in the various cities or anywhere. They were
secured from the Sanborn insurance maps; the first count was verified; and
the number that has been given is the multiple of five next above the count.

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138 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Definition of House

House, lot, apartment, family, living-room, these most common of
words that appear so constantly in all building regulations and statistics
are never given any definition in the law; yet, on the content of the word
both statistics and the administration of the law seriously depend in
hundreds of cases. They are a fair example of the inexact and unscientific
basis on which many laws are drawn. The inexactness gives opportunity
for favoritism in the administration of the law and it vitiates comparative
statistics.

The ordinary meaning of the word house is of no use in dealing with
long rows of houses of the form that exists exclusively in Manhattan and
is found almost exclusively in Brooklyn and Philadelphia. There the
subdivision of blocks into houses is not always easy, but it is much easier
than it is in some cities where, as in Lawrence, the so-called semi-
detached, attached and detached houses are found mingled promiscuously
in all sorts of relation to each other, to the street, to the lot and to the
fact of ownership. In the administration of a law it is unavoidable that
values be assigned to the separating and unifying facts, interior common
use, exterior common use, common ownership, marketable unit and others.
Such values must be balanced off against each other as they exist in
various combinations at given premises.

In a house census no extended inquiry at each premise is feasible. The
structure must be classified quickly. To accomplish this in the Lawrence
census it was necessary to consider the so-called double house as one house.
Hence the definitions that are found below were given to the young men
who did the work.

The number of double houses, as thus defined, are:

.678 double houses which contain 2432 apartments,

259 are two-family houses.

213 are four-family houses

104 are six-family houses

102 are in various combinations, 2 and i, etc., up to 4 and 4.

The definitions that were given in the instructions for the census were:

HOUSE: Four outside walls with not more than one party wall.

(Four outside walls with more than one party wall is to
be regarded as a group of houses, each house being the space
between the party walls. If in some peculiar arrangement there
seems to be good reason for making an exception in this method
of classification, the reason should be discussed at the office.

PARTY WALL: Query: Do the tenants on either side of the wall use in common
any stairs or halls or parts of them? Jf the answer is negative the wall
is to be regarded as party wall.

(For the purpose of this classification balconies or porches
need not be considered. Porches connected by stairs are
sufficiently covered in the question. The direction of the wall
is of no moment. The idea of marketable unit is ignored.
Emergency use, as fire egress, is not to be considered.)

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HOUSE CENSUS

(April, 191 1 )

WCX)D

BRICK

134

Misa

Front

'.1.1.ANF.OIJ.S

Front Rear Total

1272 152 1424

2021 308 2329

1494 206 1700

700 34 734

Rear Total

I 3

I I
I 4

NUMBER OF HOUSES CLASSIFIED BY MATERIALS AND
/' BY LOCATION FRONT AND REAR

NORTH LAWRENCE

SBC.

A West of R. R. Tracks .

B R. R. Tracks to Lawrence

C Lawrence to Prospect

D East of Prospect St. . .

Total for North Lawrence, . 5487 700 6187 179

SOUTH LAWRENCE

E West of Southern Div.

R. R. Tracks 408 53 461 2

F Southern Div. to Western Div. 360 13 373 i

G East of Western Div. . . 894 53 947 44

Total for South Lawrence, . 1662 119 1781 47

Total for Lav^rence, . . 7149 819 7968 226

SUMMARY OF TOTALS

Wood, 7968

Brick, 226

Miscellaneous, .... 8

8202

(A table classifying the houses by height in stories appears on page 48.)

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140 LAWRENCE SURVEY

^ . SUMMARY OF NUMBER OF APARTMENTS

NORTH LAWRENCE Front Rc« Total

A West of R. R. Tracks

B R. R. Tracks to Lawrence St.

C Lawrence to Prospect

D East of Prospect St.

2606

279

2885

5366

784

6150

3844

517

4361

1 146

II98

Total for North Lawrence . 12962 1632 14 594

SOUTH LAWRENCE

E West of Southern Div. R. R. Tracks
F Southern Div. to Western Div.
G East of Western Div.

Total for South Lawrence

Total for Lawrence

THE TOTAL NUMBER OF APARTMENTS

756

823

595

615

1854

102

1956

3205

189

3394

1 61 67

1821

17988

In houses oi one and In houses of three In houses of more than XouL

two apartments apartments three apartments

North Lawrence, , 6528 3360 4706 14,594(81%)

South Lawrence, . 2071 696 627 3,394 (19%)

Totals, . . 8599(4896) 4056(22%) 5333(30^0) 17,988(100%)

J, TOTAL NUMBER OF REAR HOUSES AND APARTMENTS

Number of Average Number of

Houses Apartments apartments per house

North Lawrence, . 703 1632 2.3

South Lawrence, .119 189 1.6

Total for Lawrence, 822 1821

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• HOUSE CENSUS

BUILDING INSPECTOR'S RECORD

(June I, 1906, to June 30, 191 1)

NUMBER OF HOUSES BUILT. CLASSIFIED BY
HEIGHT IN STORIES

HEIGHT BY STORIES

Ycr

1906 (7 months)

1907 .

1908 .

1909 .
1910

One

One and
one-half

Two and
one-half

100

140

lOI

191 1 (6 months)

Total (5 years, i month)

'23

329

473

141

Three Four Five

NUMBER OF HOUSES BUILT, CLASSIFIED BY MATERIALS

Year

1906 (7 months)

1907

1908'

1909

1910

1 91 1 (6 months)

Total (5 years, i month)

Wood

Brick

Miscellaneous

. 91

. 166

135

. 333

. 226

. 86

1037

NUMBER OF APARTMENTS IN HOUSES CONSTRUCTED

FROM JUNE I. 1906 TO JUNE 30. 191 1

165 Apartments

in 165 Houses of

One Apartment each

S70 . "

" 285

Two

133s

" 44S

Three

188

" 47

Four

" 3

Five

384

" 64

Six

" 12

Seven

112 "

" 14

Eight

210

" 17

more than eight apartments each

3063 Apartments in 1052 Houses

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142

LAWRENCE SURVEY

EXAMINATION OF SIX HALF-BLOCKS

(April, 191 1 )

SUMMARY OF RENTS

Common St. (south side)

East from Newbury (CiiK)
West " ** (C12K)

Valley St. (south side)

East from Franklin (B16K)
West " « (B17K)

Oak St. (north side)

West from White (B43L)

Oxford St. (west side)

North from Essex (A52M)

IN OCCUPIED APARTMENTS

Annual Rent for
No. oi 5a. Ft. in Lots Occupied Apartments
Occupied by Houses -p . Average

per 5q. Ft.

35.835
45.425

$17,488.
17.774.

$.488
•391

44,412
26,784

12,078.

6,587.

.272
.245

52,703

12,606.

.239

33.600

8,447.

.251

ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL RENTS

Common St. (south side)

East from Newbury (CiiK)
West " " (C12K)

Valley St. (south side)

East from Franklin (B16K)
West " " (B17K)

Oak St. (north side)

West from White, (B43L)

Oxford St. (west side)

North from Essex (A52M)

Annual Rent (or
Occupied Apartments and

Stores at Apt. Rate
Total Avg. per 5q. Ft.

Annual Rent (or

Occupied Apartment^ Vacant

Apartments and Stores

Total Avg. per Sq. Ft.

)20,270.
24,027.

.565
.529

$22,285.
25,821.

.621
.568

15.042.
8,095.

.338
.302

16,251.
8,758.

.366

.327

14.388.

.273

15,584.

.295

9.279.

.276

10,805.

.321

(A table summarizing rates of rent per room per week appears on page 60b. Also
the percentage of lot occupied by houses.)

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HOUSE CENSUS 143

THE EXTENT OF CROWDING IN APARTMENTS

More than two persons per room

excluding the kitchen

No. of No. oi peisons

Apts.* in the Apts.*

More than one family
in each apartment
No. of No. of persons
ApU.* in the ApU.*

Common St. .
Valley St.
Oak St. .
Oxford St. .

117 60%
40 28%
26 27%
I

I 160 73%
348 40%
202 37%
19

120

61% 1 1 52 72%
15% 183 21%
22% 148 27%
36

Three i
ea<
Apts.

and moie in
:h room

Persons

More than two families

in each apartment
Apts. Persons

Oak St. . .
Common St. .
Oxford St. .

6 6%

4it 21%

460 29%

42t

21% 460 29%

Valley St.

10 7%

102

* Percentages for all the apartments examined on the street named.

t Only 15 apartments are in both, i. e., 15 apartments have more than two families,
and an average of three or more per room.

BOARDING AND LODGING HOUSES

The Number in the City 139

Under State Inspection 60

Not under State Inspection 79

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THE SOURCES OF FIGURES AND QUOTATIONS
RELATIVE TO HOUSING CONDITIONS

Pack

35 flf. The facts concerning fire loss :

Proceedings of the Forty-fifth Annual Meeting of the
National Board of Fire Underwriters (pp. 69, 70)
May II, 191 1.

Conservation of Utilized Resources from Destruction
by Fire, 1910, (pp. 5, 6).

Address of the President of the National Board of
Fire Underwriters of the Forty-fifth Annual
Meeting, May 11, 191 1.

36 The Survey, July ist, 191 1, " Fire Waste," Powell Evans.

40 Pamphlet, " Individual Fire Fighting," Pub. by Rochester,

N. Y. Chamber of Commerce.

44 ff. Facts concerning Chelsea :

Quarterly of the National Fire Protectidh Association,
July, 1908: " Chelsea Conflagration," (pp. 25-35).

46 Editorial in the New York World,- October, 1911.

49 The Population of Massachusetts in 1910: Pamphlet

issued by Mass. Bureau of Statistics. Pub. 1911.

118 Speech of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge in New York,

December 22, 1884.

The facts concerning early houses were secured from Charles
H. Littlefield, Secretary of the Board of Trade, Arthur D. Marble,
City Engineer, J. J. Carey, Building Inspector, Oswald J. Culling-
ton. Plumbing Inspector, and R. A. Hale of the Essex Co.

The sketches, maps and tables were made with the assistance
of George W. Hinchcliflfe.

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PUBLIC HEALTH

FRANK B. SANBORN

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PUBLIC HEALTH

This investigation of Public Health conditions has comprised
chiefly three phases: (i) The healthfulness of the Water Supply;

(2) The present methods of Sewage and Waste Disposal; and

(3) The Milk Supply and its relation to Public Health. The
investigation began in the spring of 191 1 and continued through
the fall. During the summer special attention was given by myself
and two or more assistants to a personal examination of existing
conditions; and these conditions, accompanied by certain recom-
mendations, are discussed fully in the report, but for the con-
venience of those who may not wish to read the whole report, a
summary of the essential points will be given in the paragraphs
that immediately follow:

Conclusions — Stated Briefly. —

1. The Water Supply is ample in amount for present
needs and after filtration is of a quality that is favor-
able to good public health.

2. The Sewage and Garbage Disposal methods are
passable from the public health viewpoint, but in-
volve important engineering features which need
attention.

3. The Milk Supply I have found to have been neglected
and I believe that it needs material improvements in
the interest of Public Health.

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THE MILK SUPPLY

The importance of the Milk Supply as affecting the general
conditions of Public Health, the lack of supervision at present,
and the great advantages that all classes of population would
derive by improvements, have caused me to give attention par-
ticularly to an investigation of the Milk question.

I have found that much of the milk that is sold in Lawrence
is produced under conditions which expose it to serious con-
tamination; there is little or no supervision or inspection from the
time it is produced until it is consumed; the City has been giving
practically no attention to the milk supply; licenses to sell milk
have been only partially required; there has been no list of milk
producers or contractors; few citizens know where the milk they
drink comes from, in fact the milk dealer is the only one who is
likely to know.

Epidemics in Lawrence have rarely been traced directly to
milk, but serious epidemics have occurred in other cities when the
milk supply has been neglected and such epidemics may at any time
occur in Lawrence.

Summary of Recommendations :

For improving the milk supply certain recommendations are
offered of which the following are general summaries : —
To classify the milk there shall be three grades :

1. Certified Milk which shall be milk of distinctly superior
quality; produced from tuberculin-tested cows on the best of
farms scoring 90 or above out of a possible 100, (according
to the method of scoring to be later described). It shall be
certified by a proper medical commission as required by the
existing state law; and the milk shall have a bacterial count
at the time of delivery in the city, of 10,000 or less per cubic
centimeter. Such milk would sell at a price of fifteen to
eighteen cents a quart.

2. Inspected Milk Heated which shall be milk produced on farms
better than the ordinary and under clean conditions. Such

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THE MILK SUPPLY 149

farms should score sixty-five or more, and the milk at the
time of leaving the farm should not contain over 100,000
bacteria per cubic centimeter. Before delivery to consumers
the milk should be further safeguarded against infectious
diseases by being brought to a temperature of 145^ Fahrenheit,
held at that temperature for twenty minutes, then suddenly
cooled to 40^ F., and should be kept at about that temperature
until it is used by the consumers. The price of this milk in
Lawrence would be nine to ten cents a quart.
3. Market Milk Heated which shall include common milk —
four-fifths of the total supply — produced on farms of fairly
acceptable quality, but many of which are trying to produce
large quantities with no special attention to quality. Milk from
sick cows, or from dirty farms produced under conditions that
are dangerous to good health, should not be admitted to the
City. Every farm, should show a score of at least 40 points
out of a possible 100, and a bacterial count of 500,000 or less.
All of the milk included in this class should without exception
be heated to 145^ F. for twenty minutes and suddenly cooled
to 40^ before it is delivered to consumers.

Furthermore, the people should have opportunity of knowing
what grade of milk they are buying, and for that reason every can
or bottle should be labeled in a manner similar to the requirements
of pure food laws as Certified Milk, Inspected Milk Heated,
or Market Milk Heated.

Besides a reasonable inspection of farms and dairies, the
twenty or more bottling plans about the City should be examined,
and their managers advised as to improvements. The sanitary
conditions of the bottling plants are of equal or greater importance
than that of milk farms. The City authorities could well maintain
general supervision of dairies and bottling plants, inspect them and
make laboratory tests of samples of milk, and then in fairness to
all make public the results of these inspections and tests. Thus the
people would be able to select the best supplies and the farmer, or
milkman, could find a market in accordance with the quality of
milk offered for sale.

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I50 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Finally, as a recommendation of great importance — second
only to that of heating or pasteurizing — I suggest the formation
of a business organization of producers, or dealers. The special
object of this organization would be to centralize; to have one
central plant for receiving, purifying and safeguarding the milk,
and, in due course, delivering it to consumers, all more thoroughly
and systematically than can be done by a dozen small dealers
handicapped as at present.

These constitute the principal recommendations of the report,
but to understand rightly the reasons for them it is necessary to
have in mind some of the conditions that exist and the relation
that these conditions bear to Public Health.

The Relation of Milk to Public Health : —

The necessity of having safe drinking water, which has been
notably demonstrated in the past history, of Lawrence, is now
accepted without question by the public at large. Less general,
however, is perception of the fact that milk is hardly second to
water as a means of spreading disease through a community when
once the milk supply becomes infected with the organisms of disease.

That milk does offer such an avenue to infection; and that
the possibility of infection, and hence of serious epidemics, is
peculiarly great in a city which receives its milk from a great
variety of sources, has been abundantly demonstrated.

In Washington, D. C, about ten per cent of the cases of
typhoid fever can be traced to milk. Attleboro, Massachusetts,
with its population of 16,400, had forty-six cases of typhoid during
last August and September, that were caused by typhoid from
one farm.

In 1901 Schiider of Germany tabulated 650 typhoid epidemics;
of these the supposed causes of 462 were reported as spread by
water; no by milk and 78 by all other means. In Massachusetts
Dr. Harrington reported that in two years, out of eighteen local
outbreaks of typhoid fever, fourteen were traced to milk. Stam-
ford, Connecticut, a town of 15,000 population, had 160 positive
cases of typhoid and twenty-four suspicious cases in a period of

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THE MILK SUPPLY 151

nine days. One hundred and forty-seven of the cases received
milk from one dairyman. The epidemic continued until there were
386 cases.

Although the medical profession has yet been unable to deter-
mine the specific organism that causes scarlet fever, ample proof
has developed showing that the disease is frequently transmitted
by the medium of milk. Dr. Trask has compiled a list of fifty-one
epidemics of scarlet fever as spread by milk, twenty-five in the
United States and twenty-six in Great Britain. In Boston, Cam-
bridge and Somerville, Massachusetts, an epidemic of scarlet fever
occurred in 1907 which comprised 717 cases, and 85 per cent of
the cases were found to be supplied by milk from one dealer.

Diphtheria is known to be spread by milk. Dr. Trask has
reported that twenty-three epidemics from 1895 to 1907 have been
traced to milk — fifteen occurred in the United States and eight
in Great Britain.

Also a few epidemics of sore throat have occurred in Great
Britain that were traced to milk, and during the past year one
developed in Boston, Cambridge, and Brookline that was most
virulent and alarming. In a period of a few weeks there were in
these three localities 1043 cases of tonsilitis and sore throat.
Among children the disease was mild, but among middle-aged
persons it was severe ; forty-eight deaths are known to have resulted
from these cases. Many physicians at first attributed the sickness
to " dust in the air,'' or ** influenza " and pronounced as absurd the
report that milk was the cause. A thorough investigation, how-
ever, has established the fact that a majority of all the cases
indisputably came from one milk supply.

When milk is infected at only one milking the epidemic may
be confined to a few cases, but when the milk is infected day after
day, the outbreak will be prolonged, increasing in broadening
circles. A milk epidemic is therefore typical in its onset. If cases
are promptly reported, classified, and their origin traced, an
epidemic can be stopped at the beginning. Furthermore, a practical
way to prevent such epidemics would appear to be some form of
heating, or sterilizing, the milk.

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152 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The relation of milk to public health begins on the farm at the
time of milking and continues through the dairy, the bottling, the
transportation, delivery to the consumers, and handling in the
household. It is a long and circuitous route open to contamination
at many points. That Lawrence has so far escaped serious
epidemics by infected milk is good reason for expecting one at the
present time. Furthermore, it is reasonable to assume that an
increase in sickness and death by epidemics or otherwise is more
liable to occur from dirty milk than from clean milk.

It may be of interest, then, for the reader to ascertain where
the milk that is sold in Lawrence is produced, and the character
of some of the farms that supply the milk.

Where the milk that is sold in Lawrence
is produced.

As an indication of the chaotic condition which prevails in
regard to the milk supply of Lawrence, it is worth recording that,
when this study was begun, it was found that the City Board of
Health could not supply a list of licensed dealers who were selling
milk in the city nor of the farms from which the dealers drew
their supplies. The only city list available contained no names of
dealers who had taken out milk licenses either in 191 1 or in 19 10.
For 1909, there was an incomplete record extending from January
to August. During this period of seven months, Dr. Thomas H.
Collins had been acting as Milk Inspector; and records, which at
the beginning of his term had been fairly satisfactory, gradually
declined until for the past year and a half no official records were
made of any licenses. For 1908, while Eugene A. McCarthy was
inspector, a fairly complete list was kept, which, although three
years out of date, appeared to be the best means available for
ascertaining the present dealers.

As shown by the map on next page, nearly all milk is from
the north, and one-fourth of it comes from Maine and Vermont
towns 150 to 200 miles away. Very little milk comes from the
South of Lawrence. The total milk supply of Lawrence, amounts
to about 24,000 quarts. There are three main sources : —

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THE MILK SUPPLY 153

1. The H. P. Hood & Sons milk, amounting to about 3,500
quarts, comes from two general sources, — the Vermont supply,
which totals about 2550 quarts, and which is collected by a daily
milk car running south on the railroad from Newport, Vt. ; and
the farms of Londonderry, Hudson, and Windham, N. H., amount-
ing to about 950 quarts. All this milk goes to Derry, N. H., and
the supply for Lawrence is pasteurized and part of it bottled for
shipment.

2. The Supply from Maine, consisting of approximately
4000 quarts of milk, is collected from about ten towns by the
Turner Center Dairying Association. The milk is shipped first
to Auburn, Maine, where it is pasteurized, then separated into
cream and skim milk and afterwards shipped to Lawrence.

3. The supply that comes from nearby farms within a radius
of ten miles, amounts to nearly 16,000 quarts or two-thirds of the
total supply.

Included in the above three sources of supply are 600 farms
that send milk to Lawrence.

Inspection of dairies : —

Of these farms 150 are near the City; and the map on pre-
ceding page shows their location, gives the name of the owner or
lessee, and the quarts of milk produced daily.

In order to determine the quality of dairies thus located near
Lawrence all that are shown on the preceding chart (150 in
number) have been inspected and rated according to a score-
sheet that was especially prepared for this investigation and is
shown on the next two pages.

The values assigned to the various items that go to make up
the score of Equipment and Method of this sheet, are values
recommended by the United States government and the Official
Dairy Inspectors' Association. It will be noted that perfect condi-
tions would mean a score of forty points ipr Equipment and sixty
points for Method.

One advantage of this form of score card is found in the
fact that an untrained person can use it with fairly satisfactory

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DAIRY INSPECTION OF LAWRENCE MILK SUPPLY

One copy of this report is sent to the Owner, or Lessee of Dairy; one to the Milk Contractor; and one copy is kept on file.

OWNER, or LESSEE, of Farm. Dairy No.

TOWN OF STATE OF. Date

Quantity of milk :

Produced here quartsperday. Number of cows ; number milking.

Receive about quarts per day from dairy of

Shipment :

Milk is taken from this dairy by teams of ; about a.m. p.m. ; delivered at

station usually about a.m. p.m.; shipped to Lawrence

by railroad, electrics, team ; reaches there about a.m. p.m., and is

delivered to consumers about a.m. p.m.

Milk shipped includes : Night of day of shipment Yes, No; morning of day of

shipment ; night of day before shipment ; morning of day before

Exposure of milk to contamination :

Water supply is from open well, covered well, spring, pond Supply. likely to be contaminated.

Privy vaults protected against flies.

Any case of typhoid, scarlet fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis, tonsilitis at

this farm? What cases during the past year?

Milk Cooling :

Milk is cooled by placing closed cans in brook, well, spring, tank

Temperature of water at date Ice is used for cooling during months

of Ice on hand sufficient for present season.

Other method of cooling is

Inspector's recommendations :

Minor improvements suggested

Important improvements especially recommended. . ,

Inspector interviewed at dairy. owner, lessee, laborer..

Sketch or photo of dairy and surroundings :

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DAIRY INSPECTION — SCORE CARD

Approved by the United States Government and by the Official Dairy Instructors' Association

EQUIPMENT

COWS
Health :

Apparently in good health

If tested with tuberculin once a year
and no tuberculosis is found, or if
tested once in six months and all
reacting animals removed

(If tested only once a year and react-
ing animals found and removed, 2.)
Comfort :

Bedding

Temperature of stable

Food (clean and wholesome)

Water:

Clean and fresh

Convenient and abundant

STABLES
Location of stable :

Well drained

Free from contaminating surround-
ings

Construction of stable :
Tight, sound floor and proper gut-

ter .

Smooth, tight walls and ceiling

Proper stall, tie, and manger

Means of light : Four sq. ft. of glass

Der cov^
(Three sq. ft., 3 ; two sq. ift., 2 ; one

sq. ft., 1. Deduct for uneven

distribution.)

Ventilation: Automatic S3rstem

(Adjustable windows. 1.)

Cubic feet of space for cow : 500 to

1000 feet

(Less than 500 feet. 2 ; less than 400

feet, 1 ; less than 300 feet, ; over

1000 feet, 0.)

UTENSILS

Construction and condition of uten-
sils

Water for cleaning

(Clean, convenient, and abundant.)

Small-top milking pail

Facilities for hot water or steam

(Should be in milk house, not in
kitchen.)

Milk cooler

Clean milking suits

MILK ROOM
Location of milk room :

Free from contaminating surround-
ings

Convenient

Construction of milk room :

Floor, walls, and ceiling

Light, ventilation, screens

Score for equipment..

SCORE

Perlect| Allowed

METHOD

COWS

Cleanliness of cows

STABLES

Cleanliness of stables :

Floor

Walls

Ceiling and ledges

Mangers and partitions

Windows

Stable air at milking time :

Freedom from dust

Freedom from odors

Barnyard clean and well drained

Removal of manure daily to field or

proper pit

(To 50 feet from stable, 1.)

MILK ROOM

Cleanliness of milk room

UTENSILS AND MILKING

Care and cleanliness of utensils :

Thoroughly washed

Sterilized in live steam for 30
minutes

(Placed over steam jet, or thor-
oughly scalded with boiling water, 2.)

Inverted in pure air

Cleanliness of milking :

Clean, dry hands

Udders washed and dried

(Udders cleaned with moist cloth,
4 ; cleaned with dry cloth at least 15
minutes before milking, 1.)

HANDLING THE MILK

Cleanliness of attendants in milk room
Milk removed immediately from

stable

Prompt cooling (cooled immediately

after milking each cow)

Efficient cooling ; below 50** F

(51** to55^ 4; 56** to 60^ 2.)
Storage; below 50** F

(51**to55^2; 56* to 60M.)
Transportation ; iced in summer

(For jacket or wet blanket, allow
2 ; dry blanket or covered wagon, 1.)

Read your score card
carefully and improve
where score is low

Score for method

SCORE

Perfect Allowed

Score for equipment of plus score for method of equals Total Score

Note l.— If any filthy condition is found, particularly dirty utensils, the total score shall be limited to 49.

NOTB2.— If the water is exposed to dang^erous contamination, or there is evidence of the presence of a dangerous disease in animals or
attendants, the score shall be 0.

(Signed) Inspector.

Inspection sheet prepared by The Lawrence Survey, June, 1911

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156 LAWRENCE SURVEY

results. It would be possible for a farmer to fill in allowable values
for the various items that would give him a fair indication of many
of the good and bad features in his own dairy.

Some of the items that are listed pertain to the location of the
dairy, the amount of milk produced, or bought, the water supply
and method of cooling — all of which is useful information for
comparing one dairy with another or for tracing a milk epidemic,
but the principal features that make up the total score pertain to
elements that may be explained in a general way by describing
what would be especially required in a dairy that scored seventy
points out of a possible one hundred. Such a dairy should have
a well-lighted stable — preferably four square feet of glass per
cow — better Hghted than a house cellar and about equal to an
ordinary kitchen; there should be enough cubic feet of space to
provide the right breathing space for each cow — 500 to 1000
cubic feet per cow is recommended. Small top milk pails should
be used. See types shown in photo on page 157. These pails
exclude a surprising amount of dirt that otherwise drops into the
milk; with them no cloth strainer is needed while milking. A
separate room should be provided for milk. This need not be an
expensive building or room. See photo on page 190, which shows
a good type of inexpensive milk room. In any dairy, however, of
first importance is method. First-class cleanliness of cows counts
eight points out of the 100; of stable, six points; freedom from
dust and odors, six points; care and cleanliness of milking utensils
and men engaged in milking, seventeen points; similarly of milk
room, attendants and methods of handling the milk, nineteen
points. Thus, by maintaining excellent care and cleanliness,
it would be possible for even an old and poorly equipped dairy
to obtain a score of sixty points out of a possible 100. This places
a premium, as it should, on method rather than on equipment.

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Ball. 56, Hygienic Laboratory.

TYPES OF MILK PAILS. NARROW-TOP PAILS ARE BEST.

One copy of the score sheet as made out for each dairy-
inspected has been furnished to the owner or lessee of the dairy,
and when there was a milk contractor- one copy has been sent to
him, and one copy of each inspection has been kept on file at the
office of the Survey. These inspections have all been made by two
persons, the writer covering thirty dairies, and Mr. G. S. Miller
I20 dairies. In order that our methods might be fairly comparable,
Mr. Miller at first inspected in company with me, and together we
compared notes and scores until we were assured that our complete
scores when added up checked within two per cent.

At the completion of our inspection of farms on the South
of the Merrimack a report was sent to each farm indicating the
averages of all results obtained to that date. Similarly, at the
completion of all inspections, the following letter was sent to the
remaining farms: —

September 15, 191 1
Dear Sir:

I am sending to you herewith a copy of the report of
our inspection of your dairy. You may be interested to compare
the conditions as indicated by your Score with those that we have
found in other dairies. For that purpose I am including a summary
result of all dairies that we have inspected. This includes at least
four-fifths of all dairies that are located within a radius of fifteen
miles of Lawrence and which supply milk to this City.

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148

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10.8

5.4

540

567

33.1

3S.I

21.2

32.3

53.S

24.0

92.5

158 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Number of dairies in all,

Number of dairies supplying directly to consumers,
Number of dairies selling milk to contractors,
Number of dairies out of the 148 that have at least

4 sq. ft. of glass per cow,
Number having 500-1000 cu. ft. of space per cow,

Using small top milk pails,

Washing udders of cows before milking, or wip-
ing with a moist cloth.

Cooling milk below 55 F. at date of inspection,

Using ice for cooling and storage.

Having a separate milk room that is used for
washing the utensils, handling the milk and
storage.

That remove milk immediately from the stable.
Average score of the 148 dairies, for equipment
Average score of the 148 dairies, for method
Average total score.
Lowest total score of any dairy,
Highest total score of any dairy,

A Dairy to be classified as having especially good qualities,
and able to furnish a superior milk that could be classified as an
Inspected Milk selling for nine or ten cents a quart, should have
a Score of at least sixty-five; and if the bottling station is in
another plant, that also should have a Score of at least sixty-five.

We expect to publish a list of dairies and bottling stations
supplying Lawrence that now score sixty or more. Should you
carry forward improvements which materially change your score,
please notify us and we will credit the report that we have on file.

The object of this investigation is to secure an improved
quality of milk. It is a movement for Clean Milk and a Fair Price
to the Farmer. May we include your name in a list of those who
are willing to cooperate in carrying forward such a movement?

Yours truly,

FRANK B. SANBORN, Engineer

Tabulated sheets have been made out showing for each farm
the general condition of its equipment and method, and the sum
total of all these sheets has given the following summary results
for the different towns: —

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THE MILK SUPPLY 159

Results of dairy inspections of 150 farms, summarized by towns.

1 1-^ I ft i 3

Andover 25 2240 7.8 9 16 52.0

Boxford 8 745 8.1 i 7 57.1

Haverhill 3 300 — — 3

Lawrence i 150 — i —

Methuen 47 7700 9.2 27 20 55.3

North Andover 27 2560 7.9 3 24 56.4

Pelham, N. H. 10 595 9.2 o 10 43.9

Salem, N. H. 20 1350 9.4 11 9 52.3

15640

Boxford, Methuen and North Andover lead in standards of
dairies and methods of producing milk.

Total amount of milk supplied to Lawrence,

From farms within seven miles of the City, 15,640 quarts daily

Derry, N. H., and Vicinity, delivered

by H. P. Hood & Sons, about 965 "

Vermont and New Hampshire towns
included between Newport, Vt.,
and Wells River, Vt., also de-
livered by H. P. Hood & Sons, 2550 "

Ten towns in Maine located in the
vicinity of Rumford Falls, and
delivered by the Turner Center
Dairying Association, 4000 " "

2315s
In our inspections we have included farms which deliver some
milk in Andover, North Andover and Methuen. This amount, how-
ever, is estimated at less than ten per cent of the total and is
probably about balanced by farms which have been overlooked.

Total supply to the city would appear to be approximately
24,000 quarts daily.

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i6o LAWRENCE SURVEY

Total number of farms, that send milk to Lawrence.

Number of farms near Lawrence,

Determined by field inspections of this Survey, 155

Around Derry, N. H.,

Reported by H. P. Hood & Sons, and in part verified

by inspections of farms, 45

In Vermont (and border towns in New Hampshire)
Reported by H. P. Hood & Sons, as furnishing the
milk from which their supply for Lawrence is
taken, 63

In Maine,

Reported by Turner Center Dairying Association, as
furnishing the milk from which the supply for
Lawrence is taken, 281

544

This list does not include all miscellaneous farms that supply
small quantities of milk — ten to twenty quarts per day — nor
those that supply the cream that comes from Boston.

In all over 600 different farms doubtless send milk to the City.

Examples of dairies, good and faulty : —

The statement is often made that dairies which fulfill modern
sanitary requirements can be maintained only by rich people — that
the common farmer cannot afford to equip and run his dairy in
that way.

I wish to show, however, by the following views and descrip-
tions that some of the farms that we have credited with high
scores are not exceptional ones. It is true that modern require-
ments call for some up-to-date dairying methods and the farmers
to pursue them must have sufficient funds to make a small invest-
ment. Two or three hundred dollars in many instances, would be
sufficient to meet all requirements, and many of the farms that
have been inspected and have scores of fifty or thereabouts, could
easily raise those scores to over sixty by merely changing some
of their methods, without added expense. For example :

By having the milkmen wash their hands before milking;
wipe the udders of the cows with a moist cloth; remove the milk

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THE MILK SUPPLY i6i

from the stable immediately after milking; and by washing the
floors and walls of the milk room and white-washing the tie-ups
in the stables. These are improvements that can readily be made
with little or no expenditure.

Although modern dairying methods do require some outlay
and the farmers must be sufficiently well-to-do to spend a small
amount, these requirements seldom prevent an ordinary farmer
from fulfilling them. The difficulty usually is that the farmer,
who does not improve, is one who is either too indifferent to pursue
dairying methods or too conservative to adopt modern methods. One
of the dilapidated, neglected farms that was visited belonged, I
was informed, to '' the richest man in town."

Examples of good dairies:

The following cuts show some of the creditable dairies. A
few of these have expensive equipments and excellent methods
maintained at great expense as model farms; others represent the
dairy of the ordinary farmer who is carrying on his business
primarily for the reasonable profit that it returns to him.

View of an excellent farm which evidently would produce milk under sanitary

conditions.

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i62 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Cow stable, well lighted, ample space. Cleanliness of cows, buildings and utensils,

excellent.

Modern stable with tie-up in basement, yet ample light and air space. Good

conditions throughout.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 163

Same farm as preceding. A herd at pasture under favorable conditions.

Common farm buildings. A few years ago this farm was converted into a milk
farm under modern requirements. A run-about automobile provided with an
enclosed top serves for delivering milk quickly.

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i64 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Modern one-story dairy built especially for milk business and maintained under

good conditions.

Special form of cow stable.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 165

Stable yard and herd of excellent dairy that is maintained at greater expense
than possible on most farms.

Common farm buildings having ample means of light for the cows and good
conditions maintained throughout with small outlay.

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i66 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Newly constructed sanitary milk farm under the very best conditions; excellent
equipment and methods throughout. Photo shows milk house and loading
platform in foreground.

Up-to-date farm with modern construction and equipment. Progressive methods

readily adopted.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 167

Examples of faults in dairies.

The following farms illustrate certain of the objectionable
features that have been noted during our inspections. It will be
appreciated by every intelligent reader that without question, the
most serious fault existing in these farms is that attributed to
lack of cleanliness. Neglect in methods of handling milk entirely
transcends the advantages of first-class equipment. An old farm
scrupulously clean is better than a modern dairy carelessly main-
tained. It is true, however, that neglect more commonly goes with
the old dilapidated places.

Some of the lowest scoring dairies are shown herewith.

It is not my desire to point out by referring to these dairies
individual instances of neglect. Instead, I wish to show character-
istics, and in some of the views that have been selected as
illustrating objectionable features, the owner, or manager, at the
farm agreed with me perfectly in recognizing these objections,
and in several instances expressed the intention to remedy the faults.

Ample light is as important for cows as it is for poultry and horses. Formerly
very little attention was paid to window space for cow barns. This photo
illustrates a barn that has only one-fourth enough window space.

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i68 LAWRENCE SURVEY

This place is run by men of foreign birth who have no one to keep house for
them, and there were many evidences of lack of cleanliness.

The leanto on this barn makes a covered space for cows when in the yard but
seriously interferes with light so that the interior of the stable is dark and
objectionable. A new barn is contemplated, and should be built at once.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 169

Noticeable lack of equipment and method at this farm, — as the picture indicates.

Similarly, conditions at this dairy are plainly told by the photograph ; they are

seriously objectionable.

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170 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Illustration of an old and cluttered farm. Will modern methods be adopted here?

Insufficient light, no milk room.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 171

Insufficient light ; no milk room ; improvements needed which possibly would be

made if properly urged.

Large and adequate farm buildings may be run without sufficient regard to mbdern
requirements. This farm does not need new buildings, but with improvements
in methods high-class milk could be produced here.

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172 LAWRENCE SURVEY

A typical view of conditions which would be objected to by many people; but one-half
of the farms that supply milk to Lawrence are no better.

Piles of manure at times extend to windows. Conditions inside similarly neglected.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 173

The milk bottles and wash-tub occupy the only milk room in use at this dairy.
This is out-of-doors and near a brook. Here the bottles are rinsed after
washing in a tub with water that is brought from the house kitchen. Three
hundred quarts of milk are sent from here to Lawrence each day.

This box made of rough boards loosely put together, allowing dust and rain to
penetrate, is the only place for storage of milk. Open cans filled with milk
were found to contain specks of dirt, while in one can there was a live frog.
Extended improvements were recommended to the owner who said that he
would see that they were made. A second visit a few weeks later showed
a small beginning.

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174 LAWRENCE SURVEY

List of good dairies : —

When we consider the means of improving the dairies, two
alternatives are usually open; — To condemn the bad dairies and
compel the owners to better the conditions or go out of the milk
business; or instead, to approve the good dairies, publish a list of
them and thus give the consumers an opportunity to buy the best
quality. The proper authorities should doubtless prohibit the sale
of milk from some of the worst of the dairies, but for the purposes
of this investigation I have decided to designate only the good
dairies, and I am including herewith a list of twenty-eight dairies
that were found to be supplying milk that is produced under
especially good conditions. Any farm that is included in the
following list has obtained a score of at least sixty points out of
a possible lOO and either delivers milk directly to consumers or
sells to a contractor who has a bottling plant that also has been
found to have a score of sixty or more.

Several high-grade farms are omitted because at present they
sell milk to contractors who have bottling plants that score under
sixty. A few other farms contemplate making improvements
which would materially increase their scores, but, as these farms
are now a little below sixty they are not included in this present list.
A few farms have followed the suggestions made in our reports
on their dairies and have accordingly raised their score above sixty
since our first inspection.

Following is the corrected list of names with the quarts of
milk produced at the time of inspections in the summer : —

Andover : — Shattuck Bros, produce 400 quarts daily ; sell
direct to consumers. Wm. M. Wood produces 160 quarts; 40 of
which are delivered to the Wood Mill Restaurant; rest, not sold.

Boxford: — J. W. Chadwick produces 300 quarts and sells
direct to consumers; Thomas Downes, 50 quarts and sells to
C. D. Glennie, contractor; J. Henry Nason, 100 quarts and sells
to C. D. Glennie.

Derry, N. H. : — H. P. Hood & Sons deliver six to ten quarts
of special milk, and designated " Hood Farm Milk ^ to distinguish
from their general supply.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 175

North Andover : — Chas. Appleton produces 30 quarts ;
James Glennie, 150 quarts; North Andover Town Farm, 30 quarts;
Wm. H. Phelps, 35 quarts, and all sell to C. D. Glennie, contractor.

Lawrence: — Theobald Daley produces 150 quarts, sells
direct to consumers.

Methuen : — All of the following producers sell direct to
consumers: — E. L. Bragdon, 325 quarts daily; L. S. Cox, 250
quarts; D. F. Connelly, 200 quarts; W. M. Dooley, 220 quarts;
G. E. Flanders, 160 quarts; Fred L. Gardner, 130 quarts; F. H.
Giles, 140 quarts; Harnisch Bros., 300 quarts; John Hoh, 190
quarts; Fred Miller, 375 quarts; E. D. Taylor, 450 quarts; W. E.
Williams, 450 quarts; G. K. Webster, 250 quarts; and F. L. Currier
produces 35 quarts and sells to F. L. Gardner; Chas. Kitchin pro-
duces 100 quarts and sells 50 quarts direct.

Salem: — P. H. Caron & Son produce 160 quarts and sell
direct to consumers; R. H. Dunbar, 200 quarts and sells direct to
consumers.

The foregoing farms furnish a grade of milk that would be
classified as Inspected Milk. In addition there are a few sources
of Certified or Special milk as follows:

The Walker-Gordon Laboratory Company furnishes special
or modified milk that is sold principally by prescription and for
infants. Price eighteen to fifty cents a quart taken in Boston.

Certified milk is furnished by H. P. Hood & Sons, from the
Middlebrook Farm, Dover, N. H. This milk is certified by the
Milk Commission of the Suffolk District Medical Society. Retail
price is sixteen cents a quart.

Certified milk is also available from the farms of J. A. and
W. H. Gould. The milk is certified by the Medical Milk Com-
mission of Boston. The Messrs. Gould have three certified farms :
one in Reading with about forty-five cows, another in Beverly,
with 180 cows, and one in Essex with 100 cows. Milk would be
delivered by express and price would be sixteen cents a quart.

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176 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Inspection of the Hood Farms : —

From farms located in towns of Londonderry, Hudson and
Windham, all within six miles of Derry, N. H., about 965 quarts
of milk at the time of our inspection were being shipped to Law-
rence daily. This milk is collected by three teams which take it to
the plant of H. P. Hood & Sons at Derry Depot. There it is
pasteurized, bottled, and afterwards sent to Lawrence by railroad
milk cars. The writer visited this plant August 15th and i6th
and on the i8th visited some of the farms that produce this milk.

Milk is received at the bottling plant from many farms in
surrounding towns, which make up the general supply for both
Lawrence and Boston, Mass., but the three routes referred to above
constitute in ordinary cases the supply for Lawrence. Forty-five
farms make up this supply. The writer selected ten from the list
as typical ones to visit and made a personal examination of them,
filling out a score-sheet for seven, which enabled him to compare
with the conditions that were found in farms nearby Lawrence.

Before inspecting these farms, the writer was informed by
milk contractors and disinterested parties that farms at a consider-
able distance from a city would be found to score less than
those nearby; whereas representatives of H. P. Hood & Sons said
that they regarded the dairies in Vermont, the most distant they
have, as being better than those near at hand; but of all their
sources they considered the farms around Derry, N. H., the best
because those farms were within the influence of their own model
farm, and therefore of the highest excellence. Milk from these
farms near Derry is bottled to supply the family trade, while milk
from Vermont is sold in eight-quart cans at wholesale. For these
reasons it seemed desirable to make as fair a comparison as possible
between the conditions at Derry and those near Lawrence.

As a result of an inspection of these farms, it appears that
conditions there are not greatly different from those in the farms
that are nearer Lawrence. The Derry farms are slightly better
than dairies in Pelham, N. H., and inferior to those in Salem, N. H. ;
they are decidedly below those of Boxford, Methuen and North
Andover.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 177

Milk is taken from the above farms to the plant at Derry in
eight-quart cans 'of ordinary construction, many of which by hard
usage have become battered and rusted, and transportation is by
ordinary open wagons, in which the cans are covered with blankets.
The maximum haul is about seven miles, over roads fairly free
from dust, and better than found in many country districts. The
residences of two of these teamsters were visited, and the teams
of empty cans and cans of sour milk were found without any
special sanitary protection. In fact, in the transportation of this
milk and the methods of handling by the teamsters, there was no
apparent advance over the ordinary methods of thirty years ago.

After the milk is delivered at the Derry plant, about seven
o'clock each morning, each can is sampled by an inspector who
takes out a spoonful and tastes of it, rejecting any can of milk that
is sour. A number of ordinary spoons are used for this method of
sampling, and commonly each spoon is dipped in a dish of water
after each sample is taken and before it is used again. Milk that
passes this inspection is poured into a heater where the temperature
is raised to 146^ F. It is then pumped through pipes to a heating
tank in a separate room in the third story. It flows through this
tank slowly, taking about twenty-five minutes to pass through. It
then passes over a large cooler in a separate room directly beneath
the holding tank. Here it is quickly cooled to about 40^ F. It then
flows through pipes to rooms in the first story where it is either
bottled or put in cans. This process constitutes one form of pas-
teurizing milk in bulk.

The milk from the Vermont supply, also received at the Derry
plant, is generally used for wholesale trade in both Lawrence and
Boston. The milk that goes to Lawrence comes principally from
farms that are located between Newport in the extreme northerly
part of Vermont, and Wells River, Vermont. From this source
about 2550 quarts per day were reported as being shipped to Law-
rence at the time of the writer's visit in August. This milk comes
in milk cars, in eight-quart cans. It was found to be thoroughly
iced, and at a temperature of below 50^ F. when received. In the
same way as for the milk described above, this supply when

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178 LAWRENCE SURVEY

received is first sampled by tasting for sourness, then heated to
146^ F., cooled to about 40^ F., and put in cans ready for shipment
to Lawrence the same day, and delivered to customers the following
day. The interval from the time that milk is produced on farms
around Derry to the time of its delivery to consumers in Lawrence
is from thirty-six to forty-eight hours; and the corresponding
interval from the farms in Vermont to consumers in Lawrence is
from sixty to seventy-two hours.

In order to secure desirable improvements in conditions at the
dairy, it is necessary to have a working spirit of cooperation between
the farmer and the milk contractor. This cooperation is not as
evident at Derry as in the places near Lawrence. Many of the
farmers have outspoken grievances ; some were considering selling
their milk to other contractors, and others were disposed to
abandon milk production unless they could realize better returns.

The Bottling Plant of H. P. Hood & Sons at Derry, N. H.

Besides the milk supplies from farms around Derry, and the
supply from Vermont, H. P. Hood & Sons also have a farm of
their own at Derry and the milk from this place is sold as the Hood
Farm Milk, a special milk, at twelve cents per quart. The main
stable contains eighty cows. It is a two-story building, the upper
story being used for hay, the first story for cows, the cellar for
manure which is removed daily. Although this building is not of
modern construction, an effort has been made to bring conditions

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THE MILK SUPPLY 179

up to a high standard. Besides this main stable, there are two
others associated with this Hood Farm, the Bradford, about half
a mile away, and containing twenty-seven cows; and the Clark,
one mile away, and containing twenty-five cows. These two farms
are now conducted by the superintendent of the main farm. Milk
is all brought to the bottling station at the main farm, where it is
bottled without pasteurizing and shipped to various cities. Six
to ten quarts a day are sent to Lawrence.

Turner Center Dairying Association : —

The milk that comes to Lawrence from the Turner Center
Dairying Association of Auburn, Me., about 40O0 quarts, con-
stitutes a sixth part of the total amount that is used in the City.
It is received at the plant of the Association here in Lawrence
as skim-milk, cream, and buttermilk. About one-half is sold as
skim-milk, 800 quarts per day as ordinary milk, prepared by blend-
ing cream and skim-milk, and the rest as buttermilk and cream.
Only a small amount is sold at retail; but mostly to hotels,
restaurants, stores, and milkmen, many of whon; buy here when
their regular supply runs short.

The Turner Center milk comes largely from farms in ten
towns around Hartford and Livermore Falls, Maine, constituting
what is known as the Rangely division of the Turner Center dairies.
The Association has furnished a list of these farms, together with
score cards made by their inspectors.

The average scores as here credited are apparently higher than
scores obtained by our methods here in T^awrence. This is due
to the fact that a form of card has been used that is less exacting.
Also, different inspectors are likely to have different standards, and
in order to make a fair comparison of the score of one district
with that of another, either the same inspector should do the work,
or the different inspectors should be guided by one common method.
It is noted in the Turner Center score cards, that two farms were
inspected by a different inspector from all the rest and these farms
have particularly low scores.

It is claimed by this Association that they make a special point
of cooling the milk, that their " farmers have ice, and the milk is

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i8o LAWRENCE SURVEY

put in ice water as soon as it is drawn, and never gets warmed up."
This is a requirement that probably would not be fully lived up
to by all the farmers. The importance of cooling milk, and
keeping it cold by proper icing is doubtless well appreciated by the
Association, and the necessity is evident when one considers the
time, — not less than three days — that must elapse between the
production of this milk and its delivery in Lawrence.

Milk is taken from the farms to the various railroad stations,
then transported by cars to Auburn, Maine, where it is pasteurized
and clarified through separators, brought to the required standard
of fats, drawn into cans, put in storage, and later shipped by rail-
road to Lawrence. This is the usual procedure for the
Lawrence supply ; but at times when railroad trains are off schedule,
and during certain of the hot spells, the usual order of shipment is
disarranged, and milk from various other sources which is received
at their Auburn plant must be sent forward.

Milk Bottling Plants for Lawrence.

Out of the total amount of 15,640 quarts of milk per day
that is supplied to the city of Lawrence from nearby towns, 7688
quarts or about one-half is received by contractors, and
bottled near the City before being delivered to consumers. There
are twenty-two of these bottling plants, thus supplying milk to
the City.

The standard of methods used in bottling should correspond
with the requirements in the dairies. A dairy that has excellent
equipment and maintains excellent methods should have associated
with it a bottling plant of equal standards.

In order to determine the qualities of the various bottling
plants a form of inspection sheet or score card has been prepared as
shown herewith. The values assigned to the various items corre-
spond with those recommended by the United States government
This score card has been used for fifteen of the above bottling plants
and the results have been tabulated. The following is a summary
of these results:

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THE MILK SUPPLY i8i

Number of plants inspected, 15

1 has a separate handling room.
8 have hot water heaters.

13 have apparatus in good condition.

2 are free from odor and flies.
10 have floors clean.

10 receive and store milk below 55^ F.

Total quarts of milk furnished daily by these 15 plants, 6855

Average score for equipment, 18.8

Average score for method, 26.8

Average total score, 45.6

Lowest, 26.0

Highest, 62.0

INSPECTION OF MILK BOTTLING PLANTS

THE LAWRENCE SURVEY, 520 BAY STATE BUILDING

Owner or manager Plant No.

Trade name State of

City or town Date of inspection

Permit or License No...

Business of plant: Bottling milk, separating cream, preparing butter,
making ice cream ^

Milk is furnished by

In summer is received packed in ice: comes by team, refrigerator cars,
freight cars:

Temperature of newly received milk

Exposure of milk to contamination:

Water supply is from covered well, spring, pond, city pipes

Supply likely to be contaminated

Privy vaults protected against flies

Drain pipes connect to public system, to cesspool, to river,
cases of typhoid, scarlet fever, diphtheria, tuberculosis,
tonsilitis, or among employees at this plant

What cases during the past year?

Inspector's recommendations:

Minor improvements suggested

Important improvements especially recommended

Inspector interviewed at plant owner, lessee, laborer

Sketch or photo of plant and surroundings.

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CITY MILK PLANTS-SCORE CARD

RECOMMENDED BY THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

BUILDING

METHOD

EQUIPMENT

SCORE

Location: Free from contaminat-

Cleanliness:

ing surroundings

Floors

Arrangement:

Walls

Separate receiving room

Ceilings

Separate handling room

Doors and windows

Separate wash room

Shafting, pulleys, hangers, pipes

Separate sales room

Freedom from odors

Separate boiler room

Freedom from flies and other

Construction:

insects

Floors tight, sound, cleanable

Drainage

Walls tight, smooth, cleanable
Ceilings smooth, tight, clean-

APPARATUS

able

Cleanliness:

Provisions for pure air

Thoroughly washed and rinsed

Screens

Sterilized in live steam 30 min-

Minimum of shafting, pulleys.

utes

hangers, exposed pipes, etc.

(Thoroughly scalded after

Provisions for light

washing with water over
200" F. or live steam, 3)

APPARATUS

Boxes, papers or caps steril-

Boiler

ized

(Hot-water heater i)

Protected from dirt

Milk cooler or ice-cream ma-

chine

HANDLING MILK

Refrigerator

Received below 50" F.

Appliances for cleaning bottles

(50^-55", 4; 5S'-6o\ 3)

and utensils

Rapidity of handling in planj

Racks, etc., for utensils and

Freedom from undue expos-

bottles after cleaning

ure to air in plant

Sterilizer for utensils and bot-

Capping bottles by machine

tles

Bottle top and cap protected by

Bottling or package machine

covering

Wash bowl, soap and towel for

Storage 45" F. or below

attendants

(45'-5o", 2; 5o"-55',

Protection during delivery
Condition of apparatus

INSPECTION

(Make deduction for inacces-

Bacteriological work

sible parts, open seams, rusty

Inspection of dairies supplying

ware, decc^yed or battered
tables or smk, milk-carrying

milk

(Once a year, i; four times a

pipes with rough interiors

year, 4)

and lack of frequent hand

MISCELLANEOUS

couplings, and for badly
worn and poorly repaired
material)
Laboratory and Equipment

Cleanliness of attendants
(General Appearance, hands,
etc., i; clean washable cloth-
ing, i)
Cleanliness of delivery outfit

Water Supply:

Clean, fresh, convenient and

abundant

Score for method
Total Score

Score for equipment

Inspector

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THE MILK SUPPLY 183

There is even greater need of raising the standards of these
city bottling plants than of improving the conditions at the farms.
A bottling plant may receive milk from a dozen farms, and if con-
ditions at one of those farms are unsatisfactory, milk from that
farm can be excluded without disturbing the supply from the other
eleven farms. But when the conditions at the bottling plant are
unsatisfactory,, a discontinuance of milk from that station or plant
cuts out the supply from all twelve farms. Further, it is not fair
to ask a farmer to maintain excellent conditions and then have the
quality of the milk that he furnishes vitiated by careless handling
in the bottling plant. The sanitary conditions at the bottling plant
should be in every case equal to or even better than those at the
farms. The standard should be maintained as a protection to the
city's health; but it is also needed as an object lesson for the
farmer, who can then well understand that he is only expected to
satisfy requirements similar to those that are in force at the milk
bottling plant.

Unfortunately, many of the existing bottling plants are
inferior in standards to the farms from which they receive milk.
In some cases, there is also more discredit and disapproval of
modern methods at the bottling plant than at the farm. There has
been a wide movement by State and Nation to develop and improve
farm conditions, but little attention has been given to milk handling
methods as practised by small milk contractors for cities.

Here in Lawrence wholesale prices vary today from four to
five cents per quart; and instead of prices being governed by
quality, the two principal causes of variation now are length of
haul; and, as one of the contractors has put it, " sharp trading."

Improvement is needed in the Lawrence bottling plants. En-
forcement of proper city requirements is one means of securing
this improvement. Another, is by more general pasteurization of
milk. A third is by a greater union of bottling plants and con-
tractors, so as to substitute improved conditions for the small
bottling plants, and unite the fifteen that now exist into about three
first-class groups.

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i84 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The following bottling plants have been credited as scoring
over sixty points out of a possible lOo:

C D. Glennie, North Andover, inspected.
H. P. Hood & Sons, Derry, N, H., inspected.
Turner Center Dairying Association, Auburn, Maine, not
inspected.

Objectionable conditions found in many of the milk bottling plants

A milk bottling room in the basement of a dwelling-house. In the foreground are
cans and bottles of milk left around in disorder; in the background is the
tub that is used for washing the bottles and cans. There is no sink nor
provision for floor drainage, nor stove nor heater. Hot water is brought
here in eight-quart cans. The ice-chest is dirty and foul — conditions resembling
those that are sometimes found in dark corners of neglected cellars or
basements.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 185

A bottling room in a shed. Milk is received here from some of the best farms
that send milk to Lawrence. The quality of this milk, if judged by the cream
line, would be rated very high ; but any neat housekeeper would object to
conditions here existing. A milk bottling-room should certainly be kept as
clean and orderly as a kitchen. The floor here is broken and dirty. The
stove as arranged is a poor substitute for a water heater. At the end of the
ice-box is seen the sink where the cans and bottles are washed and over the
sink is the soiled and sour cloth that is used for washing the utensils.

Ice-cream plants in Lawrence.

Besides a general supply of milk for both stores and
houses, there is another note-worthy means of distributing
milk, namely, through the medium of ice-cream. Although milk
for ice-cream in some cases is cooked sufficiently during manufac-
ture to destroy most of the disease germs, very few of the plants
that supply ice-cream for the open market make any attempts to
cook the ingredients.

Cream and skim milk are bought up at wholesale and com-
bined by a manufacturing and freezing process into a great variety
of flavors and qualities, and usually sold within a day or two after
It is manufactured, although in some few cases ice-cream is kept
in storage at zero temperature for many days. In this freezing
process the germs of disease, or of fermentation and organic change,
are retarded in development, but the cold does not kill all of them

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i86 LAWRENCE SURVEY

nor prevent later growth at a higher temperature. Typhoid and
other diseases may be transmitted by ice-cream. After being held
for three months frozen in ice, typhoid germs have been found to
be alive and able to transmit disease. The importance of ice-
cream as a factor affecting pubHc health has become greatly
increased recently on account of the extensive sale of ice-cream at
soda fountains and in ice-cream cones. It seemed important to
make an examination of plants that supply Lawrence. For the
purposes of this inspection Mr. A. R. Miller was employed and he,
or the undersigned, visited all of the principal plants in the City,
examined the conditions in detail, and filled out a score sheet that
was adapted from the form recommended by the United States
government for city milk plants. Copies of these sheets are shown
on a preceding page under Milk Bottling.

This score sheet was found to satisfy the proper requirement
fairly well. It does not, however, readily permit of high scores
nor of low scores so that the range of variation between the best
plants and the lowest is not as marked as might have been desired.
It has served, however, to point out many features that must
necessarily have important bearing on the equipment and methods
of first-class plants.

Summary of Inspection of Ice Cream Plants.

Number of plants in all, i6.

I has a separate handling room.

7 have hot-water heaters.

5 have apparatus in good condition.

ID are free from odors and flies.

II have floors clean.

8 store milk below 50^ F.

Total quarts of milk and cream used daily in summer, about
2000.

Average score for equipment, 20.1

Average score for method, 30.6

Total score, 50.7

Lowest, 40.5

Highest, 65.5

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THE MILK SUPPLY 187

Further improvements can well be made in the sanitary con-
ditions of making and handhng ice-cream and moreover, the
conditions that exist in some of the inferior places are alarmingly-
bad. In many of these the ice-cream, manufacturing is done in
rooms connected with tenement houses. Ice-chests or refrigerators
for family food are commonly kept in the same room. Children
from the house or from the streets pass in and out of these manu-
facturing rooms without restriction. Ventilation and lighting are
neglected. Screens are seldom provided. In many places the
people speak poor English and are wholly unfamiliar with the
dangers of disease or the probability of infection through milk.
Nearly all of the ice-cream makers visited, however, showed a
willingness to improve their methods. Their interest impressed
the writer and Mr. Miller, who inspected most of the plants, more
favorably than did the attitude of the milk bottlers.

Milk as a carrier of disease.

I have indicated that milk at the dairy, at the bottling station,
or at ice-cream plants may easily become infected and transmit
disease.

Why is milk an effective carrier of disease ?

Because,

1. It is an important article of food, in fact next in impor-
tance to air and water.

2. As a beverage and in the form of cream, butter and cheese,
it is more extensively used than any other article of food.

3. It is commonly consumed in a raw state which favors the de-
velopment of germ life.

4. Bacteria grow in it so rapidly that frequently when consumed
it is " richer in bacteria by far than the sewage of our large
cities.''

5. The fact that it is a fluid, and not a solid, intensifies it as a
carrier of disease.

6. It is difficult to see impurities in milk. It is opaque. As an
experiment, add half a dozen teaspoonfuls of dirt to a jar of
milk; shake thoroughly, and see if the dirt is discernible.

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i88 LAWRENCE SURVEY

7. Thus the germs of disease grow profusely in milk, trans-
mitting typhoid fever, diphtheria and many abdominal diseases,
especially among infants, and we cannot, as a rule, detect the
presence of this infection by taste, odor or color.

8. Neither can infection in milk be detected quickly even by
experts. It requires from twenty-four to forty-eight hours
to test milk chemically and bacteriologically. When disease is
discovered it is often too late to stop an epidemic.

9. Milk transmits disease many times elusively, concealed and
without detection. If babies that die each year by disease and
impurities in milk were instead scalded to death, there would
be a popular uprising against such barbarity. Why not elim-
inate disease-laden milk?

Recommendations for improving the Milk Supply:

Classification of Milk :

The farmer classifies apples as No, i and No. 2's; and the
run of the orchard he may classify as just apples. So it should
be with milk. The farmer that can " raise ** all No. i milk should
get the highest price for it; if he does not care to go to the expense
and bother required in raising No. i milk he could classify nearly
all as No. 2; or, he may decide to have but one common market
grade, just milk. For apples or milk undoubtedly the grades
should be distinct and the farmer should receive a price according
to the grade he produces.

For the No. i grade I have adopted the name of Certified
Milk. This should be milk of excellent quality, produced on farms
scoring over ninety from a healthy mixed herd of cows which are
tuberculin-tested once a year when no tuberculin cows are found,
or twice a year when tuberculin cows are found and removed. This
milk should show in fats about four per cent and 13.5 per cent
in total solids, and have a bacterial count of 10,000 or less when
it is delivered in the City. It should be certified by a medical
commission in accordance with the Massachusetts law and plainly

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THE MILK SUPPLY 189

labeled as Certified Milk. Such milk should sell for a price of
fifteen to eighteen cents per quart.

Inspected Milk Heated, This includes milk that is produced .
under reasonably clean and careful conditions, in dairies that are
better than the ordinary, but not necessarily having expensive
outfits and using extra precautions and great care as must be done
in Certified dairies. To come in the Inspected class a dairy should
have a score of at least sixty-five when marked rigidly as we have
done or 75, when marked leniently as is done in some cities. On
a preceding page we have given a list of twenty-eight dairies that
have scored over sixty and probably nearly all have now made
further improvements which would raise their scores to sixty-five
or more. These are dairies that have willingly and voluntarily
adopted improvements on their own initiative. They are the pro-
gressive dairies. But there are also other farms that could easily
come in the Inspected class. Some would merely need to sell their
milk to a contractor who has an approved bottling plant, others
now have scores of fifty to sixty and could make certain improve-
ments at small expense that would raise their scores to sixty-five.
Recommendations for improvements have been made to them and
I believe that the city authorities would do well to publish at
intervals additional names of dairies that come into this class.

Further requirements of inspected milk should be the standards
for fats and solids as fixed by the State and when the milk leaves
the dairy it should not contain over 100,000 bacteria per cubic
centimeter.

Furthermore, before the milk is delivered to the consumers
it should be further safeguarded against contamination and
infectious diseases by being scientifically heated. This process may
be called Pasteurization and closely resembles what the house-
keeper calls parboiling. The milk is brought to a temperature of
145^ F., held at that temperature for twenty minutes, then suddenly
cooled to 40^ F. and should be kept at about that temperature until
it is used by the consumers. This process of Heating or Pasteuriz-
ing I shall refer to more fully after describing the next grade of
milk. The price of Inspected Milk Heated should be nine to ten
cents per quart.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 191

Market Milk Heated: When dairies that produce Certified
Milk and Inspected Milk have been deducted from the total supply
of a large city like Lawrence we have left many ordinary dairies
of fairly acceptable qualities — dairies that would have been con-,
sidered as good enough ten years ago, but which have not adopted
modern methods and do not appreciate the advance that is rapidly
being made ; there will also be many dairies that are trying to
produce large quantities of milk and do not care to adopt any
improvements which they regard as " frills." They prefer to keep
cows that give twelve to twenty quarts of milk a day and wish to
put this milk into the market with the least possible labor and
expense and the minimum regard to regulations and rules. They
wish to run their business exactly as does a grocery man who
keeps a cluttered, disorderly store, but sells a large amount of goods.

These methods cannot all be condemned, nor forbidden. A
fair-minded inspector would find that many of these objectionable
dairies are in the hands of owners who are competent to improve.
They would listen to suggestions. But there are some dairies,
undeniably bad and a menace to public health, whose owners would
not make improvements. Such owners should be persuaded, if
possible, to adopt passable methods of cleanliness; but where
changes are hopeless, in some cases bluntly opposed, then unques-
tionably the public should first of all be protected by excluding
such milk from the city. Every farm should have a score of at
least forty points out of a possible 100 and the milk should have
a bacterial count of not over 500,000 per cubic centimeter.

Heating or Pasteurizing.

Finally, it must be acknowledged that it takes a long time to
bring about material improvements in the dairies and bottling
stations that supply milk to a large city. Are the methods at dairies
and bottling plants for Lawrence today much better than they were,
five or ten years ago? Five or ten years can easily pass without
marked changes; meanwhile what of sickness and disease that is
being unnecessarily transmitted through the City by the medium
of milk? About how many children and adults per year must we

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192 LAWRENCE SURVEY

allow to contract sickness or death by disease in milk? We have
in Lawrence 1500 deaths per year, and we have 12,000 to 15,000
cases of pronounced sickness. Other cities which hav« been care-
fully studying the causes of sickness find that a surprising amount
of the reported cases and deaths can be directly traced to milk.
If in Lawrence one-fiftieth of the sickness is due to milk — 250
cases of scarlet fever, typhoid, diphtheria, septic sore throat,
dysentery and other diseases — and if one-half of that sickness can
be prevented by reasonable means, should we not expect it to be
done and don^ quickly ?

As a practicable and reasonable way of eliminating much of
this sickness, lessening the death rate, and improving the public
health of the whole City, I wish to urge that all milk that is not
Certified, be heated, or pasteurized, before it is sold to consumers.
I have come to this view-point not by a hasty glance over the field
of possibilities, but by trying to consider carefully during the past
nine months, the various interests of farmer, milkman, and con-
sumer. The milk question is a complicated one; it will not be
settled quickly. Pasteurization can be applied as an immediate
remedy ; and as filters are unquestionably needed for the Lawrence
water supply, so I believe is pasteurization for the milk supply.

The process of scientifically heating, or pasteurizing, consists
of heating the milk at a temperature of 145^ F. for twenty minutes,
then suddenly cooling it to about 40^ F. This treatment destroys
any disease germs that may be in the milk, while leaving its
quality as a food nearly or quite unchanged. Raw milk is an
excellent culture medium for a great range of organic growth. It
normally contains lactic acid bacilli, which cause its souring, yet
which are helpful in the digestion of the milk after it has been
taken into the stomach. Raw milk may, however, contain a great
variety of other organisms, derived from dust in the air, from
dirty utensils, dirty flanks of cows, dirty human beings who handle
the milk, and who may infect it with the germs of many diseases.

Pasteurizing has become an approved method of treating milk
because it destroys disease germs that the milk may contain, yet
it does not impair the quality of the milk ; but in pasteurizing — it

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THE MILK SUPPLY 193

is necessary not only to parboil, or cook, the milk for twenty
minutes, but afterwards to cool it rapidly to a temperature of fifty
degrees or less. If the milk were allowed to remain warm, lactic
acid, or souring bacilli, which remain alive after the heating,
would cause the rapid souring of the milk. The cooling is, there-
fore, a preservative measure, adopted for the same reason that ice
is used to preserve raw milk.

Pasteurizing is a very effective process when properly done.
For example: it has been found that temperatures higher than
about 145 degrees lead to changes in the chemical character of
milk, and therefore in its food characteristics. Absolute freedom
from living germs can of course be assured by the boiling of milk;
but milk that has been boiled is very different both in taste and
in other respects from either raw or properly pasteurized milk, and
generally speaking, it is not suitable as food for young children.
The most important changes in the milk, produced by excessive
heating, are changes in the character of the proteids which are the
tissue forming substances that give milk its peculiar value as a
food. Long and careful experiments have seemed to prove that
properly pasteurized milk comes through the process with its
proteids practically unchanged, so that it is for all persons, except
possibly a few babies (who might in any event furnish digestive
puzzles) as good a food as before it was heated. Properly
pasteurized milk, and there is need of emphasizing the word
" properly," is not distinguishable from raw milk by either its taste
or appearance; and even the chemist has great difficulty in detecting
any difference between raw milk and pasteurized milk.

In the bulk process of pasteurization, that is extensively used,
milk is run through a heater and thus raised to the required
temperature; it is then run into a tank where this temperature is
maintained for twenty minutes; afterwards it is drawn through
cooling tubes which quickly reduce its temperature to the proper
point. When this process was first started twelve years ago, many
people thought that it was affecting the taste of the milk, and that
the cream line in milk jars was less noticeable after pasteurization.
As a substitute Flash Pasteurization was tried. By this method

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194 LAWRENCE SURVEY

the milk was heated to a temperature of 140^ to 145^ just for a
minute or two ; but this brief interval did not prove to be sufficient
to destroy disease that the milk contained, and in place of Flash
Pasteurization, the Bulk process has been generally adopted.

But, within the past two years, a new process has been
developed by which milk is pasteurized in sealed bottles. This
method has been used for many years in the best processes of
manufacturing beer. Strange as it may seem, it remained only to
apply to the purification of milk these scientific and hygienic
standards that have been thus used for beer. But the milk bottle
must have a water-tight cover and commonly this is made of tin
foil, crimped as for ginger ale and birch beer bottles. The bottles
are filled with milk and tightly covered; then subjected to a
shower of water the temperature of which is gradually raised by
the admission of steam. Pasteurization is completed in about one
hour. Then the steam is shut off and water, continuing to run
in a few minutes, becomes cool and the sealed bottles can after-
wards be removed and placed in ice or immersed in ice water.

This method affords the best possible protection to good
health. After the bottle is sealed, the milk is not again exposed.
Possibility of disease transmission is reduced to a minimum, and
the expense involved is not increased seriously. The principal in-
crease is in the price of the bottle. The common form of bottle
is not air-tight or water-proof, and so far no practicable way has
been devised for adding an air and water-tight cap to the present
style of bottle. Instead, a new form has been developed that has
a projecting bead at the top of the bottle on to which an overlapping
cap of tin foil is forced by a special machine. A milk jar with this
form of cap is a little more difficult to open than one with the
pasteboard cap and it will not stand hard usage as well, since chip-
ping of the glass bead may render the bottle defective. The advan-
tages of pasteurizing in sealed packages, however, are very evident,
and doubtless this -method will soon become the most acceptable
one. Manufacturers claim that within the year 191 1, the process
has been introduced in over one hundred towns and cities.

Pasteurizing by the consumer, in his own house, is possible, but
difficult to accomplish satisfactorily. The milk bottle should be

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THE MILK SUPPLY 195

placed in a kettle of cool water and the temperature gradually raised
until a test thermometer indicates 145^ on a Fahrenheit scale, or 60®
on a Centigrade scale. It should not be raised more than a degree
or two above this temperature. After being heated or cooked at
this same temperature for 20 or 30 minutes the bottle should be
removed and immediately cooled, preferably by immersing it in ice
water or by packing in chopped ice. The process cannot be left
to the manipulation of a careless cook or maid ; commonly the milk
is heated too high and is not rapidly nor sufficiently cooled. The
required temperatures — just 145^ F. for heating and 50^ F. or less
for cooling — can only be correctly determined by actually testing
with a thermometer.

The process can be somewhat improved by using one of the
small pasteurizing outfits that can be bought in the open market.
Home pasteurization, however, should not take the place of public
or commercial pasteurization on a larger scale. It can be used in
special circumstances to advantage ; for example, when a family
buys dirty or disease-laden milk, (just as many families are now
doing in Lawrence), until a better supply can be obtained, home
pasteurization should be employed; also, in certain cases of sickness,
or infant feeding, whenever emergency precautions are called for, :
home pasteurization is to be recommended ; but when we consider
the best means of advancing public health as a whole, there are
urgent reasons for a large and general pasteurizing plant that will
be equipped with the best of apparatus and produce effective and
reliable results, just as a city plant for filtering and purifying an
impure water-supply is recognized to be an indispensable public
utility. Both are invaluable safeguards of public health. In
Lawrence the water supply has been protected, but the milk supply
has not. An effective and urgent remedy, I believe, exists in the
process of pasteurization. It has been used for years in Denmark
and Germany, has lately been introduced in Chicago, recently adop-
ted in New York and at present is used by the large milk contractors
that supply Boston and by H. P. Hood & Sons and the Turner
Center Dairying Association for milk that they deliver in Lawrence.
I recommend that milkmen and contractors adopt pasteurization as
a means of promoting their business interests and safeguarding their

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196 LAWRENCE SURVEY

trade, and that the City authorities pass necessary ordinances there-
by to require the pasteurization of all milk, except Certified Milk,
beginning 19 14.

Bull. 56, Hygienic Laboratory.

A MODERN HIGH-CLASS PASTEURIZING PLANT.

The following manufacturers and agents deal especially in
pasteurizing apparatus : —

BARRY-WEHMILLER MACHINERY CO.. 21st & Walnut Sts., St.
Louis, Missouri.

Makers of Continuous machines for Pasteurizing bottles filled
with milk and sealed tight. These machines have been exten-
sively used heretofore for Pasteurizing beer. Adaptations of the
same for Milk Pasteurization is a new development.

CORNISH, CURTIS & GREENE MFG. CO., Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin.
Makers of the Farrington Pasteurizing Machine. No reply re-
ceived to recent letter of inquiry concerning their machine.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 197

CREAMERY PACKAGE MFG. COMPANY, Albany, New York.
Makers of the Wizard Pasteurizing Machine. Used for Bulk
Pasteurization and consists of three sanitary vats identical with
each other and each equipped with a spiral disc coil for heating
and agitating and is usually associated with a Continuous Cooler
of the disc type that has three compartments, the first two being
used for cooling with water and the last for brine.

CROWN, CORK & SEAL CO., Baltimore. Maryland.

They make a form of seal for special bottles that render them
air-tight and permits the bottles thus sealed to be emersed in
water or subjected to vapors of steam. This form of seal is used
in the process of Pasteurization known as the Spray System where
•water is heated and pumped over cases of bottled milk, stacked
one upon the other. This company furnishes bottles and seals and
has agreements with certain manufacturers of Pasteurizing ma-
chines for furnishing complete outfits.

DAIRY MACHINERY & CONSTRUCTION CO., Derby, Con-
necticut.

Makers of the Progress and Willmann Regenerative Pasteurizers,
which are used for Bulk Pasteurization and consist of a heating
cylinder and a holding machine.

JENSEN MANUFACTURING CO., 154 Lake St., Chicago, Illinois.
Reported to be manufacturers of machines used for pasteurizing
cream for butter-making purposes. No reply received to recent
letter.

THE LOEW MANUFACTURING CO., Madison Ave. and W. 90th
St., Cleveland, Ohio.

Makers of Intermittent machines for Pasteurizing bottles filled
with milk and sealed tight. These machines have been extensively
used heretofore for Pasteurized beer, but a few plants have lately
been equipped for Milk Pasteurization. Experiments are now
being made for the company by Dr. Charles North, New .York City.

MILLER PASTEURIZING MACHINE CO., Canton, Ohio.

Makers of the Miller Pasteurizing Machine. No reply received
to recent letter.

A. H. REID CREAMERY AND DAIRY SUPPLY CO., 69th and
Haverford Ave., Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Makers of Regenerative and Continuous Pasteurizers. The Con-
tinuous Pasteurizer consists of a vat. Pasteurizer (which is a
cylindrical vessel of three copper cases), and an aerator or a
Combination Expansion Cooler, the upper section of which is
used for milk and the lower section for brine or ammonia.

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198 LAWRENCE SURVEY

HENRY E. WRIGHT & SONS, 50 Spice St., (Charlestown Dist.),
Boston, Mass.

Agents for pasteurizers. Also agents for coolers, milk bottles,
fillers, washing -powder, separators, bottle caps, Babcock testers;
and they manufacture a variety of cans, milk pails, bottle fillers,
milk chests.

P. R. ZIEGLER & COMPANY, 7 Merchants Row, Boston, Massachusetts.
Various forms of apparatus for the supply of dairies and cow
barns. Special agents for D. H. Burrell & Co. of Little Falls,
N. Y. Milking machines and dairy apparatus.

Supervision of Bottling and Pasteurizing Plants :

-Bull. 56, Hygienic Laboratory.

A VERY NEAT, INEXPENSIVE, SMALL, BOTTLING ROOM.

By the present methods of supplying milk to Lawrence a Bott-
ling plant usually serves for several farms; one, in fact, serves for
twenty-eight farms. For reasons that I have tried to point out, it
is more important even to have the Bottling plant safe than the
farm. The Bottling plant is an intermediary between the farmer
and the consumer.

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202 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The Bottling plant shou^^ receive, bottle and transmit milk
without adding any form of ^Jnpurity or contamination. The re-
sponsibility it bears in relation to public health should be evident to
the milk contractor who runs the Bottling plant and especially should
this responsibility be appreciated by the City Board of Health, which
heretofore in Lawrence has done practically nothing in inspecting
or investigating these plants which contribute favorably or unfavor-
ably to Public Health. I earnestly recommend that more attention
be given to the sanitary conditions of milk Bottling plants.

Plate 3 shows a proposed plan for a Modern Milk House. This
is intended to be a practicable and reasonable lay-out, suitable for
an average-sized milk farm. Milk is received at one end of the
building, passes in order through cooling, bottling, pasteurizing,
iceing, storing, and afterwards to the delivery door. Here also are
received empty bottles which in turn are washed, sterilized and
passed along to the Bottling room. The arrows indicate the order
of passing milk and empty bottles through the various processes.

Inspection of Dairies.

The City can properly supervise Bottling and Heating plants
but it is expensive and inexpedient for any city to inspect all the
milk plants that send milk to that city. As we see in the case of
Lawrence a large number of these farms are 150 to 200 miles away
and in the states of Maine and Vermont. Large contractors who
handle these distant supplies buy in large quantities and from many
farms; then, they mix the supplies in pasteurizing and blending
processes and deliver part of the general supply to Lawrence and
perhaps part to Boston or other cities.

Thus, for Lawrence to inspect these supplies at regular inter-
vals and for Boston to do the same thing would involve dupli-
cation. I should recommend that, for the present, inspection be
made of these distant dairies sufficient to ascertain their general
sanitary qualities, thus to obtain assurance that these supplies are
acceptable. But, finally, these inspections should doubtless be made
by State Inspectors and it is recommended that the City urge the
enactment of laws that will authorize inspection by State authorities.

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PLATE 3.

/7 MODERN MILK HOUSE

Probosed floor fi/an and arranaetnentofeauilomeht.

Cht/te

^Scf^mn

■^ R00M„ ,^M

Milk cans cr fails ^^

Pasttiurixlnj in
Botthm or Lbcotion
for Mifk MUina and
Bottle Fif/my

receii/ed here.

The size here shon/rr ¥i/ou/d he suitable for hancf finer fromSOO
to 700 cfuarts ofmUk dailu.

For CetmneoAfiLK the n^a//s,f/oorsyanc/ce///rfas sAauA/he facecfmth
Jt>/aster' cement or simihr mater h/thatcan be ¥\/ashedand ke/btdean.

For Inspected, and Market MtLH a smooth inferior surface cfiM>od
wouid be ^cftisfacToru, ^i/i/hite surface assists in detecting dirt.

The Lawrence Survey "Report on Pu/suc He/il th

Lawr*nc;Mats^ March t9iZ ^, j3# «5A.4C/^T^a^*V. ^» 6 .

£?ee M/ Hinchcliffk, OmI.

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204 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Laboratory Tests.

Inspection of the dairies reaches to the very source of pollution.
Milk that starts in a pure and clean condition from the farm should
reach the consumer in a safe and healthful condition. Through the
bottling station or in transportation, however, impurities are likely
to enter the milk, and one way of detecting either dilution or
pollution in milk is by Laboratory tests. Such tests are common
procedures in nearly all large cities. The chemical tests can be
easily made but the bacterial tests are more difficult and really re-
quire the skill of a physician or bacteriologist. The laboratory in
Lawrence is very well equipped and for a short time two years
ago it was run effectively, but during the past year the Board of
Health dismissed the City Bacteriologist and practically closed the
laboratory.

It should be used each day for tests of milk. Samples should
be taken by the City Inspector of Milk, from delivery teams, from
stores, railroad stations, hotels and ice-cream plants. These sam-
ples should show by tests a quality equal to the standards set by
law. Laboratory tests afford a convenient way of testing the qual-
ity of milk that is being sold. By such tests poor quality Or neglect
in cleanliness can be detected, and sometimes the beginnings of an
epidemic can be accurately forecast.

Not only should laboratory tests of milk be made but as with
dairy inspections I believe that the public should know the results
of these tests.

Publicity and Prices.

I recommend that the City adopt the method of publishing
the results of dairy inspections and laboratory tests that has been
used in Wheeling, West Virginia; Rochester, N. Y. ; Richmond,
Virginia; South Orange, New Jersey and elsewhere.

Similarly in the way of publicity I recommend that all milk
that is offered for sale in bottles, or cans, be plainly labeled as
Certified Milk, Inspected Milk Heated or Market Milk Heated.
The object of labeling would be primarily to inform the con-
sumers of the grade of milk that is being sold; but it would have

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THE MILK SUPPLY 205

another object: It would enable the producer who supplies a
first-class grade of milk to get more for it than for a common
g:rade. Should not some advantage thus come to the farmer who
has a clean barn, a clean milk room, and sells clean milk?

Furthermore to encourage the safe farmer and restrain the
reckless one it is believed that licenses, or permits, should be re-
quired as carefully of milk dealers as of plumbers or chauffeurs —
in fact, milk dealers may offer a greater peril to public health
than any of the other public servants. During the years 1910 and
the first half of 191 1 few milk licenses were issued in the City.
Many of the milkmen claim that they called twice or three times
at the City office but could not obtain licenses. ,The importance
of the milk business demands licenses if they are to be required
for any public health measures.

Sample form of Publicity Report.

BOARD OF HEALTH

Report of Milk Examination, June i, 1913

Name of Milkman : John Smith, East Dracut.

This is a small place. New bain is needed. 14 cows. Good care is maintained.

•ats

Solids

Bacteria

Dairy
Score

perc. c.

4.2

14.63

80,000

1275

500,000

72.5

3.9

12.95

95,000

4.1

13.02

65,000

4.3

12.66

100,000

75.4

I9I3

January

February

March

April

June

July

August

Notes Butter fats and solids: The Massachusetts State requirements are for
fats 3.25 per cent; for solids, 12.15 per cent. The cream line and butter fats are
less important than total solids, and both are less important than cleanliness.

Bacteria: Milk containing large quantities of bacteria turns sour more quickly
than clean milk. A high bacterial count may occur from accidental causes in a
single sample without condemning the general quality of the whole supply, but,
if habitual, it indicates unsanitary methods on the part of the milkman. Milk
produced under good sanitary conditions should not show more than 35^000
bacteria to the cubic centimeter. To obtain a low and favorable bacterial count,
have clean conditions everywhere, remove the milk from the stable immediately
after milking and keep it on ice.

Dairy score: A perfect score is 100 points. 40 is the lowest score that is
passable. 90 is required for a dairy to be classed as " Certified," and 65 as
" Inspected."

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2o6 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Business Organization of Producers.

Many of the foregoing recommendations of this report could
be embodied in City ordinances and enforced by the Board of
Health, but often compulsory compliance with rules and regula-
tions does not lead to complete success, and furthermore sugges-
tions that involve much outlay could not be expected of some of the
small farms. For example, I have recommended that all milk ex-
cept Certified Milk be heated or pasteurized. That is a process that
cannot be successfully accomplished at each farm. It should be done
at some central plant. Such a plant could afford numerous advan-
tages to producers, and the question arises, Could the producers
own and operate this central plant themselves? The difficulties in
organizing the producers seem to be a drawback. Several of them
have said to me, " the producers will not pull together " — and
undoubtedly there is some truth in the statement. But Erie, Penn-
sylvania, has a central Producer's Association that is claimed to be
successful and ought it not to be possible to have similar success
in Lawrence? In Homer, New York, there is also an organization
of milk farms which is being directed by Dr. Charles North of
New York along a mutual, or cooperative, basis.

The Association in Erie, I am informed by the President, was
started twelve years ago. Sixty-five farmers formed a Stock Com-
pany and signed a five-year contract to deliver all their milk to
one central plant. An old market house was first utilized, but later
a special building was erected in the center of the city, convenient
to steam and electric cars. Milk as received here is inspected for
odor, and at least once a week it is tested for butter-fats, solids,
adulteration and impurities. After being sampled the milk is fil-
tered, or passed through a separator, then heated or pasteurized.
Afterwards, a large part of it is bottled and delivered to customers
the day received, or the day following. Besides selling common
milk and cream, the Association makes butter, dry curd, schmier-
kase, and considerable ice-cream. All deliveries throughout the
city are made from this central Plant;

About 10,000 quarts of milk are received daily, much of
which comes from non-members and in some cases forty miles by

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THE MILK SUPPLY 207

trolley. Fifty men are employed, twenty-three being regular
drivers and five special. During the first year, in 1900, the
business amounted to $100,000. During 1909 it was $225,600.
The association handles now about one-half of the milk business
of the City. Each month the producers receive $10,000 for milk.
The stock originally sold for $50 per share, but, I understand
that it cannot be purchased for anything like that amount at
present.

The plan of organization was to issue stock to the producers.
If a man had a milk route his business was taken over at the value
of $3 a quart and in payment stock was given him at $50 a share.
Each share entitled the holder to deliver into the Association 16 2-3
quarts of milk per day.

The advantages in having an association of this sort are : —

(a) A gain in standardizing the products — milk, butter and ice-
cream.

(b) An improvement in quality.

(d) Economy in delivery and number of employees.

(e) Better market and better prices for producers than now exist.

(f) Satisfactory provision for surplus of milk in rush seasons and
for shortage in scant seasons.

The President of the Erie Association believes that such an
organization of producers could be formed to advantage in a city
like Lawrence. There should be a central building that should have
especially: A cement floor; abundant supply of pure water; rooms
conveniently arranged; an equipment, for a plant of three to four
thousand quarts daily, of a 25 horse-power boiler, 12 horse-power
engine; a separator of capacity 700 to 800 pounds an hour; a pas-
teurizer large enough to handle the whole supply of milk during
the rush season; butter-making machinery of capacity at least for
100 pounds of butter; machinery for making dry curd, schmier-
kase, buttermilk, and especially modern appliances for making ice-
cream which adds materially to the income. Such a building
should be located near electric and steam railroads, and might serve

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2o8 LAWRENCE SURVEY

for supplying, and washing, all milk cans and pails, and there
should be a distinctiveness to the whole affair. The delivery
wagons should be painted a uniform distinctive color; distinctive
suits should be worn by the drivers; there should be distinctive
cleanliness of the apparatus and the products furnished by the
Association should be distinctively reliable; there should be dis-
tinctive sanitary rules and regulations effectively enforced, thus
to build up a business profitable to the farmer and helpful to the
City.

An association as described above, similar to one that has been
tried and succeeded in another city, if put in operation in Law-
rence should solve the major part of the milk question. It should
afford the farmer a direct share in the whole profit from dairy
to household; it should especially benefit the small producer who
now claims to be sometimes "squeezed'' by the milk contractor;
it should provide for surplus milk and for shortage — two of the
most troublesome phases of the milk business and especially trouble-
some for small dealers; it should reduce the cost of delivery, now
placed at two cents a quart, by one half; instead of a dozen dif-
ferent milk teams racing up and down a street and drivers taking
empty bottles from any or all of the back door steps, one team and
one driver should cover all of one section ; thus less noise and less
vexation to residents; but such an association should be favored
by the City authorities; it would tend at once to better sanitary
regulations. The small milk dealer, who has perhaps a dozen
cows and a kitchen or a cellar for a bottling room cannot be ex-
pected to put in appliances for bottle washing, sterilizing, or more-
over for pasteurizing which undoubtedly is going to be required
in the near future, but an association controlled by fellow pro-
ducers of which he owns a part would ensure him a good market
and fair treatment, and enable him to comply with modern de-
mands.

Can such an organization be formed? It seems possible to
me but, as I have said, some of the producers doubt if many of
their number would agree to unite. In order to ascertain what
can be done, I would suggest that a canvass be made among the
producers interested and should it finally be found impracticable

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THE MILK SUPPLY 209

to organizers the producers, I would suggest that a similar con-
solidation of interests be effected by the milk contractors. At
present there are fifteen or more such contractors supplying milk
in Lawrence. I believe that better results could be obtained in
the healthfulness of products, and in economy of collecting,
bottling and delivering by having modern apparatus, fewer and
larger plants. Instead of fifteen, three to five would be preferable.
The advantages of consolidation and a central plant will doubtless
be quickly appreciated by contractors, but in proposing the plan
I have had foremost in mind the interests of the producers. They
should benefit first and it is to be hoped that they will be leaders
in promoting the movement, yet it would seem to be practicable
and in fact advisable to include in the association contractors and
business men of the city who could aid in managing and financing
the undertaking in the best possible manner. I earnestly advise
the producers to discuss the plan as outlined above, to appoint a
committee to examine into the feasibility of it, and to ascertain
exactly what farmers are willing to cooperate.

List of Producers who supply milk to Lawrence: —

(The towns are arranged alphabetically and in each town the
names of producers are given alphabetically.)

These farms are shown on Plate II, that is designated Milk
Farms near Lawrence. They include all farms from which milk
is delivered by teams to Lawrence. Greatest distance of any farm
from the center of the city is seven and a half miles. Total amount
of milk supplied by these farms, about 16,000 quarts per day.

ANDOVER

Qts. daily

C. J. Bliss,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

E. W. Burtt,

C. D. Glennie,

Sam. D. Berry,

C. A. Stone,

Jno. J. Crowley,

Sells to various stores,

Geo. M. Carter,

C. D. Glennie,

100

W. J. Clark,

J. L. Noyes,

Luke Collins,

H. Taryzian,

J. Dagdigian,

Sells to H. Taryzian,

Dan. F. Donovan,

G. C. H. Dufton,

and C. D.

Glennie,

100

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210

LAWRENCE SURVEY

Qts. daily

Dan. Fitzpatrick,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

J. W. Godin,

Selb to C. D. Glennie,

A. Kasabian,

Sells directly to consumers,

150

Jos. T. Lovejoy,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

P. E. Livingstone,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

J. L. Noyes,

Sells directly to consumers,

Receives from another dairy.

Shattuck Bros.

Sells directly to consumers,

400

Manuel Silva,

Sells to Antonio Mello,

James Suitor,

Sells directly to consumers,

120

Frank Smith,

Sells to J. Robinson,

175

Chas. A. Stone,

Sells directly to consumers,

Receives from other dairies.

150

A. R. Stevens,

Sells to C. A. Stone,

Hudson E. Wilcox,

Sells to Antonio Mello,

ICO

R. A. Watson,

C. D. Glennie,

George D. Ward,

Wood Mill Restaurant,

(160 qts. produced in all)

AUBURN, ME.

Turner Centre Dairying Association,

Receives from other dairies, 4000

(See Contractor's List for statement regarding the supply.)

BOXFORD

J. G. Chandler,
J. W. Chadwick,
Thomas Downes,
Charles Gardner,
Charles M. Moulton,
J. Henry Nason,
Myron Pearl,
J. C. Whitney,

DERRY, N. H.

H. P. Hood & Sons,

Sells to C. D. Glennie, 30

Sells directly to consumers, 300

Sells to C. D. Glennie, 50

C. D. Glennie, 60

C. D. Glennie, 55

C. D. Glennie, 100

C. D. Glennie, 50

Sell directly to consumers from the
Hood Farm, 10

(See Contractor's List for statement of the balance
of their supply.)

DRACUT

Kelle Brox,

Sells directly to consumers, 100

Receives from other dairies, 200

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THE MILK SUPPLY

211

HAVERHILL

Qts. daily

E. S. Blodgett,

Sells to W. O. Putnam.

G. A. Mills,

S. Taylor,

ICO

E. M. Nason,

W. O. Putnam,

150

LAWRENCE

Theobold Daley,

Sells directly to consumers,

150

METHUEN

Geo. M. Adams,

Sells directly to consumers.

Receives from M. Garabedian

and

S. Garabedian,

E. L. Bragdon,

Sells directly to consumers.

325

Receives from another dairy.

B. Boornazian,

Sells directly to consumers,

130

Receives from G. O. Stevens,

Jos. Bedard,

Sells directly to consumers.

380

Receives from Cyril Bedard,

Batty Bros.

Sells to J. T. Roche,

225

Cyril Bedard,

Jos. Bedard,

Mrs. A. Ball,

Chas. Nimmo,

Wm. Bodwell,

A. C. Clough,

Barker Estate,

J. B. Richardson,

Bishop,

Sells directly to consumers.

Louis S. Cox,

Sells directly to consumers.

250

Patrick Cox,

Sells directly to consumers,

140

Receives from another dairy.

F. L. Currier,

Sells to F. Gardner,

D. F. Donnelly,

Sells directly to consumers.

200

A. C. Clough.

Sells directly to consumers,

Frank Dietzel,

Sells to C. Bleicher,

J. F. Donovan,

Sells directly to consumers,

130

Receives from another dairy.

W. M. Dooley,

Sells directly to consumers,

220

Joseph E. Dowding,

Sells to Peter Alford,

120

Wm. P. Fogg, .

Sells to W. E. Ralton,

80.

G. E. Flanders,

Sells directly to consumers,

160

Receives from J. E. Merrill,

F. W. Foster,

Sells to W. E. Ralton,

Fred L. Gardner,

Sells directly to consumers,

130

Receives from F. L. Currier,

Frank W. George,

Sells to C. Bleicher,

120

Henry Griffin,

Peter Alford,

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212

LAWRENCE SURVEY

F. H. Giles,
J. E. Griffin,
Harry Harris,

Hurzenger Bros.,
M. S. Hill,

Harnisch Bros.,
John M. Hoh,

Jarman,
Chas. Kitchin,

Fred H. Miller,
Edward Moreau,
J. T. Merrill,
Gustave Miller,
Meth. Town Farm,
Morse Bros.,
I. Nelson,
Charles Nimmo,

Fra^k C. Perley,
Petzold Bros.,
J. B. Richardson,

Edmond Richardson,

J. A. Shea,
G. Simonian,
Scannell Bros.,

C. A. Stevens,
G. O. Stevens,
E. D. Taylor,
G. Taylor,
W. E. Williams,
Horace Whittier,
G. K. Webster,
A. G. Wood,

J. H. Welch,
Walter Welch.

Qts. daily

Sells directly to consumers, 140

Sells to Peter Alford, 80

Sells directly to consumers, 350
Receives from C. W. Colburn, Ar-
thur Emerson, Chas. Fossie, John
Quigky, Patrick Quigley, H. S.
Russ, G. B. Smith, and John

Mansfield, 390

Sell to C. Bleicher, 60
Sells directly to consumers and to

John Hoh, 200

Sell directly to consumers, 300

Sells directly to consumers, 190

Receives from M. S. Hill, 40

Sells to Frank Duffin, 40

Sells to druggist, 50

(100 produced in all)

Sells directly to consumers, 375

Sells directly to consumers, 190

Sells to G. E. Flanders, 35

Sells directly to consumers, 40

Sells to E. Moreland, 120

Sell to R. W. Carleton, 200

Sells to R. E. Carleton, 35

Sells directly to consumers, 70

Receives from Mrs. A. Ball, 60

Sells to S. Taylor, 80

A. C. Clough, 70

Sells directly to consumers, 60

Receives from other dairies, 40

Sells to Jos. Edwards, 100

Sells to C. Bleicher, 55

A. Torisi, 125

Sells directly to consumers, 175

Receives from other dairies, 30
Sells to F. Duffin and J. Edwards, 160

Sells to B. Boornazian, 170

Sells directly to consumers, 450

Sells to S. Taylor, 80

Sells directly to consumers, 450

Sells to R. E. Ralton, 280

Sells directly to consumers, 250

Sells. directly to consumers, 50

Receives from other dairies, 45

Sells to Moreland, 20

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THE MILK SUPPLY

213

RTH ANDOVER

Qts. daily

Chas. Appleton,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

Jacob Barker,

M. McDermott,

Jesse Coe,

P. J. Doherty,

120

Mrs. James A. Davis,

Sells directly to consumers.

240

(A. M. Robinson, Mgr.)

John Driscoll,

Sells to C A. Stone,

George Eglofe,

Sells directly to consumers,

Receives from A. N. Talbot,

130

J. F. Foster,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

120

Chas. D. Frost,

C. D. Glennie,

Bes. W. Farnum,

P. F. Doherty,

Miss C. A. French,

M. McDermott,

240

Orrin Foster,

C. D. Glennie,

100

Nathan Foster,

C. D. Glennie,

James Glennie,

C. D. Glennie

150

E. F. Leland,

W. 0. Putnam,

100

N. A. Town Farm,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

C. A. Newhall,

P. J. Doherty,

125

Wm. W. Phelps,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

J. C. Poor,

Otto Mitzner,

275

Calvin Rea,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

100

George A. Rea,

G. Hatem,

100

Orris Rea,

P. Doherty,

A. Rogers,

W. Putman,

120

Richard Russell,

M. McDermott,

290

A. M. Robinson,

(See Mrs. James A. Davis.)

L. R. Starrett,

Sells to P. J. Doherty,

E. R. Tucker,

Sells to C. D. Glennie,

A. N. Talbot,

Geo. Eglofe,

H. M. Whittier,

C. D. Glennie,

Mrs. H. M. Whitney,

M. McDermott,

LHAM, N. H.

Chas. W. Coburn,

Sells to Harris Bros.,

Arthur Emerson,

Sells to Harris Bros.,

Charles Foisie,

Sells directly to consumers,

Receives from other dairies.

300

John Mansfield,

Sells to Harris Bros.,

W. Morrison,

Sells to R. E. Carlton,

Patrick Quigley,

Sells to Harris Bros.,

John Quigley,

Harris Bros.,

H. S. Russ,

Harris Bros. & Morel

land, 90

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214

LAWRENCE SURVEY

Qts. daily

Geo. B. Smith,

Harris Bros.,

Henry E. Titcomb,

R. E. Carlton,

Edward Young,

R. E. Carlton,

SALEM, N. H.

Margaret Barry,

R. E. Carlton,

Samuel Beauche,

R. E. Carlton,

George A. Brown,

R. E. Carlton,

Brady Bros.

H. P. Findeison,

160

F. H. Coran & Son,

Sells

directly to consumers.

160

B. E. Davis,

Sells

to D. Hird,

R. H. Dunbar,

Sells

directly to consumers.

200

Isaac Emerson,

Sells

to R. E. Carlton,

S. W. Forsythe,

Sells

to R. E. Carlton,

H. P. Findeison,

Sells

directly to consumers.

Receives from Brady Bros.,

A. G.

Kelley, Albin Kinzler,

250

M. Garabedian,

Sells

to G. M. Adams,

S. Garabedian,

G. M. Adams,

David Hird,

Sells

directly to consumers.

Rece

ives from A. E. Davis,

J. c.

Hazeltine, E. J. Manor,

145

J. C. Hazeltine,

Sells

to David Hird,

A. Kinzler,

Sells

to H. P. Findeison,

A. G. Kelley,

H. P. Findeison,

Kachadorian Bros.

F. Jedziniak,

J. Learmonth,

Sells

to R. E. Carlton,

W. A. Littlejohn,

Sells directly to consumers.

Sells

to another dairy,

L. A. Machan,

Sells

to R. E. Carlton,

Arthur Mitzner,

H. P. Findeison,

J. A. C. Machay,

R. E. Carlton,

E. J. Manor,

D. Hird,

William Turner,

Sells

to R. E. Carlton,

F. L. Woodbury,

Sells

to R. E. Carlton,

List of Contractors who Buy all of the Milk
that they supply :

(Names are arranged alphabetically by towns in accordance with
location of bottling plants.)
ANDOVER

G. Dufton buys from D. F. Donovan 50 quarts daily.

Antonio Mello buys from Manuel Silva 85 quarts daily; from

H. E. Wilcox, 100. Total, 185.
H. E. Wilcox, 100; Total, 185.

H. Taryzian buys from John Dagdigian 90 quarts daily; from
Luke Collins, 30. Total, 120.

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THE MILK SUPPLY 215

AUBURN, MAINE

Turner Center Dairying Association receives milk from 281
dairies in the vicinity of Rumford Falls, Maine. (See Plate I.)
(Milk as shipped to Lawrence is mostly skim-milk, and cr^am.)
Total, 4000 quarts daily.

BOXFORD
' No contractors located here, who buy all of their supply.

DERRY, N. H.

H. P. Hood & Sons receive milk for Lawrence and Boston from
45 dairies in Londonderry, Hudson, Windham and Pelham and
deliver of this amount in Lawrence, 965 quarts daily.
They also receiv-e milk from 63 dairies in towns between New-
port and Wells River, Vermont, and deliver in Lawrence, 2550
quarts daily. (See Plate I.) Total, 3515.

HAVERHILL

No contractors located here, who buy all of their supply.

METHUEN

Peter Alford buys from Jos. R. Dowding 120 quarts daily; from

Henry Griffin, no; from J. E. Griffin, 80. Total, 310.
C. B. Bleicher buys from Frank Dietzel, 50 quarts daily; from

Frank W. George, 120; from Huizinger Bros., 60; from Mrs.

J. A. Shea, 55- Total, 285.
A. C. Clough buys from W. Bodwell 25 quarts daily; from Petzold

Bros., 70. Total, 95.
R. E. Carleton buys from Isaac Emerson 50 quarts daily; from

Samuel Beauche, 15; from G. A. Brown, 40; from J. Learmonth,

50; from J. A. C. Mackay, 60; from H. E. Titcomb, 50; from

Wm. Turner, 80; from F. L. Woodbury, 35; from Edward

Young, no; from Morse Bros., 200; from L. A. Mecham, 10;

from J. S. W. Forsythe, 30; from M. Barry, 80. Total, 810.
F. Duffin buys from C. A. Stevens 170 quarts daily; from Jarman,

40. Total, 210.
Jos. Edwards buys from G. O. Stevens 80 quarts daily; from

Edmond Richardson, 100; from Joseph Barrie, R. Griffin, C.

Young. Total, 310.
F. Jedziniak buys from Kashadoorian Bros. 90 quarts daily.
Henry Jacob & Son buy from Edmond Richardson 35 quarts

daily; from Long, 50; from Whittaker Bros., 140; from Geo.

A. Trumpold, 13. Total, 238.
Otto Mintzner buys from J. C. Poor 275 quarts daily.
E. Moreland buys from Methuen Town Farm 120 quarts daily;

from J. J. Welch, 20; from Walter Welch, 20; from H. S. Russ,

45. Total, 205.
S. Taylor buys from George Taylor 80 quarts daily; from G. A.

Mills, 100; from F. C. Perley, 80. Total, 260.

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2i6 LAWRENCE SURVEY

NORTH ANDOVER

P. J. Doherty buys from Jesse Coe 120 quarts daily; from B. W.

Farnum, 30; from C. A. Newhall, 125; from Orris Rea, 55;

from L. R. Starrett, 25. Total, 355.
C. D. Glennie buys in Andover, from C. J. Bliss 50 quarts daily;

from E. W. Burtt, 25; from G. M. Carter, 100; from D. F.

Donovan, 50; from D. Fitzpatrick, 50; from J. W. Godin, 80;

from P. E. Livingstone, 60; from J. T. Lovejoy, 80; from G. D.

Ward, 40; from R. A. Watson, 60.
In Boxford, from J. G. Chandler, 30 quarts daily; from Thos.

Downes, 50; from Chas. Gardner, 60; from C. M. Moulton, 55;

from J. H. Nason, 100; from M. Pearl, 100; from J. C. Whit-
ney, 50.
In North Andover, from Chas. Appleton, 30 quarts daily; from

J. F. Foster, 120; from N. Foster, 50; from O. Foster, 100; from

C. D. Frost, 70; from J. Glennie, 150; from N. A. Town

Farm, 30; from W. W. Phelps, 35; from Calvin Rea, 100; from

E. R. Tucker, 50; from H. M. Whittier, 50. Total, 1825.
Michael McDermott buys from Jacob Barker 90 quarts daily;

from Miss C. A. French, 240; from Richard Russell, 290; from

Mrs. H. M. Whitney, 25. Total, 645.
W. C. Putnam buys from E. S. Blodgett 50 quarts daily; from

E. F. Leland, 100; from E. M. Nason, 150; from A. Rogers, 120.

Total, 420.

LAWRENCE

G. Hatem buys from George A. Rea 100 quarts daily.

J. T. Roche buys from Batty Bros. 225 quarts daily.

W. E. Ralton buys from W. C. Fogg 80 quarts daily; from F. W.

Foster, 40; from H. Whittier, 280. Total, 400.
A. Torisi buys from G. Simonian 125 quarts daily.
Wood' Mill Restaurant buys from Wm. M. Wood 140 quarts daily.

PELHAM, N. H.

No contractors located here who buy all of their supply.

SALEM, N. H.

No contractors located here who buy all of their supply.

Total amount of milk furnished to Lawrence by the above con-
tractors is 15,193 quarts per day; or five-eighths of the total milk supply.

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THE WATER SUPPLY OF LAWRENCE AND ITS
RELATION TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH*

Brief Statement of Conditions :

Lawrence takes its water from the Merrimack River; a very
foul source, but, by excellent methods of filtration, it is made,
not only equal in purity and healthfulness to the water supply of
the average Massachusetts city, but it is superior to many. The
percentage of sickness and death by diseases that are transmitted
by water has materially decreased since filtration was started.

Source of Supply:

The Waterworks plant is located on the north bank of the
Merrimack River, and about three quarters of a mile above the
dam and South Broadway, which connects North and South
Lawrence. The river water carries many impurities, a serious
part of which is sewage that enters the river from cities upstream.
These cities include Franklin, Laconia, Manchester and Nashua in
the State of New Hampshire, and Fitchburg, Leominster and
Lowell in Massachusetts. These towns and cities have an aggre-
gate population of two hundred and fifty thousand and none of the
sewage is purified before it enters the river. Lowell, with its
population of 107,000 is located eleven miles above Lawrence. It
has been estimated that the amount of sewage that enters the river
and its branches is over one gallon per six hundred gallons of
water flowing.

Filtration :

The problem of transforming this impure and dangerous
water supply into a potable and safe drinking water was in reality
solved in 1893 when Slow Sand Filters were first installed.
Previously, typhoid fever and death rates in Lawrence had been
alarmingly high, but immediately after the filters were put in

* Many of the facts in this chapter were compiled by Mr. J. J. Haley in an
engineering thesis taken in conjunction with this Survey.

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PLATE ^,

Deaths per / OOO popuhti^
1^ 1^ s - ^ ^.

Deaths per tOOO fyopulation

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THE WATER SUPPLY

^19

operation, both the cases of typhoid and the total deaths from all
causes were materially reduced. The death rate and averages are
clearly shown by the diagrams of Plate 4. The increase in rate
from 1886 to 1893 is indicated by the first straight line of
averages that is shown steadily ascending. Similarly the decrease
in rate since 1894 to the present time is shown by the second
straight line of averages steadily descending.

Comparison of the death rate in Lawrence with that of other
Massachusetts cities is given by the U. S. Census. For Lawrence
the rate in 1910 was 17.7 per cent per 1000 population; and of
the fifty-five largest cities in the State ten have equal, or higher
death rates as follows: Chelsea 18.8; Fall River 18.4; Holyoke
17.7; Lowell 19.7; Milford 18.3; New Bedford 18.6; Newbury-
port 18.7; Northampton 18.9; Taunton 23.3, and Westfield 18.7.
The average of the fifty-five cities is 15.9. The lowest is that of
Winthrop, 10.2.

The reduction in death rates in Lawrence compares favorably
with results that have occurred in other cities where changes have
been made from a polluted to an unpolluted water supply. The
following interesting comparison has been made by Mr. Allen
Hazen, Engineer of New York:

Reduction in death rate per 100,000 population by changing
from a polluted to an unpolluted water supply :

City

Locatioa

How
changed

Date of
change

5 years
before change

5 year*
after change

Reductii
in 5 yei

Hamburg

Germany

Filtration

1892

2400

1770

630

Albany

New York

River water

1899

2330

1840

390

Newark

New Jersey

to
upland water

1892

2510

2200

300

Jersey City

«(

1896

2540

1930

610

Lowell

Mass.

River water ^o
to ground water ^^

2510

2050

460

Lawrence

Mass.

Filtration

1893

2440

2000
Average,

442
472

A reduction in the death rate of 442 for five years with a
population of 100,000 corresponds to 359 for a population of
81,200 as Lawrence has averaged for the past five years. I
believe that it does not overstate the facts to say that, with the

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220 LAWRENCE SURVEY

present population, filtration is saving from 350 to 400 lives every
year, besides a greater saving would occur in years that might
have epidemics as were common before the filters were installed.

Not only has filtration reduced in measurable terms the total
death rate of the City and the sickness and death due to typhoid
fever, but unquestionably many minor ailments; diarrhoea,
dysentery, stomach disorders have been greatly reduced and the
health and working strength of all the people have been promoted
by having a water supply that is made reasonably pure. Confidence
in the quality of the water, however, is not as general throughout
the City as it should be, and, in many offices, stores, and residences,
spring water, or pseudo-spring water, is drunk instead of city
water. This water is delivered is bottles from a variety of places
and with very little sanitary oversight on the part of the farmer
or dealer supplying it, the consumer, or the Board of Health. I
believe that these supplies have become so extended that all of
them should be examined and regulations prescribed and enforced
that will insure more protection of the public health against
possible epidemics.

In addition to the direct benefits that the City has derived
from filtration, there are several indirect benefits that should be
mentioned.

The filter of 1893 was the first noteworthy one used in this
country for the removal of bacteria. The following excellent
results were obtained even from the beginning:

Year

1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899

Many engineers of this country and from abroad, came to
investigate the filters. They published reports and spoke far and
wide of the methods and success of the Lawrence filters. This
all benefited the City.

In water

applied to

liters

In effluent of
filter at pumping
pumping station

Per cent of

reduction by passing

through filter

10,800 per cc.
11,000
7,600

1 50 per cc.

120

98.6
98.9
98.6

10,900
4.400
S.800

57
65
55

995
98.5
99.1

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THE WATER SUPPLY 221

The Value of Pure Water.

Sanitary engineers agree that sickness and death in any com-
munity should not increase above reasonable limits and whenever
the percentage becomes abnormal, it means an economic loss that
generally must be charged to the water supply. A common method
of estimating the expense of impure water is by means of the
typhoid death rate. For example, the death rate by typhoid fever
from 1885 to 1893, before filtration was introduced, was 91.8 each
year for 100,000 population; from 1895 ^^ iQio* after filtration
was put in operation, the death rate became 24.4, or a saving of
67.4 lives per 100,000 population. This would correspond to a
saving of 44.2 lives each year for an average population of 65,780,
as in Lawrence. A human life is estimated at an average value of
$10,000 by some of the best authorities, but placing it conservatively
at $5,000, the saving of 44.2 lives should mean a money value of
$221,000 per year. But accompanying each death by typhoid, there
are on the average 4.5 cases of sickness and recovery. Each of
these cases costs someone on the average $125 for medicine, nurses,
and loss of wages, a total of 4.5 x $125 x 44.2, or $24,862. Thus
in reducing the typhoid death rate of 91.8 before filtration to 24.4
since filtration, a conservative estimate of savings to the citizens
would be about $220,000 per year for deaths and $25,000 per year
for sickness, and this would be for one disease. The total cost
of installing all of the filters and their accessories is given as
$140,000; this outlay has been more than justified by the reduction
of typhoid in a single year. The cost of operating the filters is
recorded as $9,000 to $10,000 a year; even $10,000 a year since
1893 would mean $180,000, approximately making a total cost of
$370,000, which the savings by typhoid alone would provide for
in one and a half years.

Second only to quality of a water supply comes the question
of quantity. Every town and city puts forth the common appeal
for " an abundant supply of pure water.'' The adequacy of the
present source of supply for Lawrence is unquestioned; so long as
the Merrimac River has sufficient flow to furnish power for manu-
facturing, there should be ample amount of water to satisfy reason-
able demands of a public water supply. But as the population up

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222 LAWRENCE SURVEY

stream increases and more sewerage is added, will the supply con-
tinue to be acceptable for drinking purposes? What deterioration
has already been observed?

The State Board of Health is engaged in an extended investi-
gation of the Merrimac River, and it appears from results so far
announced that important changes in the quality of the water have
not taken place in the past ten years. It is certainly undeniable,
however, even if the processes of filtration are an effective barrier
against sickness and disease, that a river which furnishes drinking
water should not be used as an open sewer and a common dumping
ground for two hundred and fifty thousand population. It is
foolish to add sewage and pollution to a river and then proceed a
few miles down stream to filter out this same pollution; yet this
is exactly what is being done in the Lawrence case. Unfortunately,
the same condition exists in many other localities in the United
States, and a question before engineers at the present time is to
provide reasonable means of sewage and refuse disposal for those
large cities that now get rid of sewage by disposal without purifi-
cation into rivers or other public waters.

The present filters could be enlarged to meet the increasing
need for more water. In fact, the Superintendent believes that the
present filters are being operated about to their limit. He estimates
that the open filters are doing about one-third and the new covered
filters about two-thirds of the filtering, and that more filters will
immediately be needed if the city is to continue to grow at its
present rate. Considerable increase in the capacity of filters could
be obtained by thoroughly overhauling the old filter and adding
a masonry cover to obviate ice and increase its winter efficiency.
Treatment of water by hypochlorite of lime is another possible way
of allowing an increase in the rate of filtration. These matters,
however, are principally engineering features and involve financial
considerations. The adequacy of the pumping plant has recently
been the subject of heated controversies in the City, and it has been
decided to add a centrifugal pump that is to afford three million
gallons a day additional capacity. The capacities of reservoirs,
stand-pipes, and street mains do not directly affect public health
and are not included in this investigation.

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THE WATER SUPPLY 223

Conclusion :

In conclusion, I wish to emphasize the success that has attended
the methods of filtration that have been used here in Lawrence.
The mortality rates have greatly improved since filtration began;
serious epidemics 0/ water-borne diseases have been eliminated, and
many good reports have been sent out that show the results of the
old and new filters. Such a record is creditable and helpful to the
City. Those citizens that urged the installation of a filtration plant
should feel satisfaction in witnessing the improved health condi-
tions that have resulted; and especially should citizens, who, with
honest purpose, at first opposed the proposed methods of filtration,
now give proper credit for the distinct advantages that have accrued
to Lawrence and other cities.

The Sanitary Survey of 1850 -

A Sanitary Survey of Lawrence would not be complete without
some reference to the excellent survey of the State that was made
in 1850 under the leadership of Lemuel Shattuck. This survey
included the City of Lawrence, which had then been incorporated
but three years. Throughout the report of the survey, which was
published in a volume of 544 pages, there is expressed a keen appre-
ciation of good health, its value to the individual, and to the city,
its value morally, physically, and even financially. A better presenta-
tion of the importance of public health is seldom found, as the
following paragraph will show :

" We believe that the conditions of perfect health, either
public or personal, are seldom or never attained, though attain-
able; — that the average length of human life may be very much
extended, and its physical power greatly augmented; — that in
every year, within this Commonwealth, thousands of lives are lost
which might have been saved; — that tens of thousands of cases
of sickness occur which might have been prevented ; — that a vast
amount of unnecessarily impaired health, and physical debility
exists among those not actually confined by sickness; — that these
preventable evils require an enormous expenditure and loss of
money, and impose upon the people unnumbered and immeasur-
able calamity, pecuniary, social, physical, mental, and moral, which

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224 LAWRENCE SURVEY

might be avoided; — that means exist, within our reach, for the
mitigation or removal; — and that measures for prevention will
effect infinitely more than remedies for the cure of disease."

Prevention undoubtedly will effect more benefit to all citizens
than remedies, but prevention is difficult to instill into human
practice. The person who has escaped scarlet fever, typhoid, or
diphtheria, is apt to believe that others could escape in the same
commonplace way that he has, provided they were willing to
follow the same methods; whereas, the person who has been
afflicted by any one of these diseases will usually admit the
difficulty of escape and the ease of catching such infectious dis-
eases. So that the question for governing bodies to decide is,
" How shall the people as a whole be properly educated in means
and methods of prevention ? How shall the benefits be secured of :

A safe water supply?

A safe milk supply?

Proper disposal of waste?

The water supply of Lawrence I believe to be as favorable
to public health as could be reasonably demanded. The milk
supply, I believe, needs material improvement in the interest of
public health; and the sewage and garbage disposal methods are
to be discussed in the pages that immediately follow.

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SEWAGE AND GARBAGE DISPOSAL*

Brief Statement of Conditions.

The sewage and garbage disposal methods involve two aspects
of the question of Public Health that are of importance. The
first is in regard to the disposal of sewage and waste into the
Merrimack and Spicket Rivers, and the second is in regard to the
disposal of ashes and rubbish on dumping grounds, and of kitchen
refuse to swine. The present methods are the result of old customs
that have been in use fifty years and more without noteworthy
improvement. The chief objections to them now come from the
fact that we know the causes of disease far better than we did
fifty years ago.

The Sewerage System.

The sewerage system consists of a network of pipes that join
into trunk sewers which empty either into the Merrimac River
or its tributary, the Spicket River. See Plate 5. Most of these
pipes receive both surface drainage and house sewage, although
about one-eighth of the area within the limits of the City of
Lawrence is on what is known as the " separate system," and
receives only house sewage. Sewerage of Methuen joins with
the Lawrence system principally at a point near the Arlington
Mills, and flows through an intercepting sewer along the general
course of the Spicket River, and empties into that river at the
Garden Street bridge, a few hundred feet back from the outlet
of the river. Thus into the Merrimack River from nine principal
outlets, this sewage is discharged. There are a few outlets, how-
ever, that are indefinite as to size, location, and contents. At the
Pemberton Mill, there is one of the original sewers as put in by the
Essex Co., that empties either into a race-way, or into one of the
recently constructed sewers, and there is some doubt as to which
of these hidden connections is at present being used.

* Many of the facts concerning Garbage Disposal and the Disposal of Sewage
into the Merrimack River were compiled by Mr. C. E, Williams in an engineering
thesis taken in conjunction with this Survey.

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226 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Besides the regular sewer outlets as shown on the drawing,
it was found by our inspection along the river banks that there
are many other small drains that discharge into the rivers. Some
are at the embankment walls above the water level, and others
extend part way to the water's edge through pipes and various
forms of open and closed channels. There seem to be no limita-
tions in the use of this river for sewage purposes. From bank
to bank, looo feet in width, it is veritably an open depository for
sewage and manufacturing waste. At the time of our inspection,
in July, a boat was used to go from place to place, and by wearing
rubber boots, we were able to enter some of the outlets, and
traverse the river banks. These banks in many cases were coated
with sludge and dried sewage which, besides being objectionable
on account of offensive odors, afforded breeding-places for flies
which, according to recent disclosures, are a greater menace to
good health than has heretofore been understood. In many
localities the sewage was observed in a decomposing state on the
surface of the ground where it had been deposited by some outlet
that did not properly extend to running water. These conditions
would doubtless be alleviated after a high run of water had scoured
the river banks, but, during the summer months, the conditions
become offensive, and to a considerable extent dangerous to the
health of mill operatives and employees who are required to
work in such localities.

Sewer Outlets.

The following pictures, taken in July 191 1, show some of
these outlets:

The first view is an outlet at the rear of the Washington
Mills that is believed to serve now one of the original sewers that
was put in about 1848. As the photograph shows, the banks of
the river near this outlet, at the time of our inspection, were
cluttered with rubbish, pieces of wood, stone, tin cans, and vegeta-
tion; much of which was exposed to filth from sewage. This
sewer does not extend beyond the river wall and the channel from
the wall to the river is one of the most neglected of any.

The Lawrence Street outlet is at the rear of the Pacific Mills.

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SEWAGE DISPOSAL 227

As in the case of many other sewers the wall has been changed
near the outlet — the keystone in place is dated 1874, and was
formerly in another location. The sewer as now existing also
took the place of one of the original sewers that was referred to
in the Report of the Sanitary Commission of 1850 as " a large
common sewer that admits surface drainage and underground
sewerage, being is size six and one-half feet high, three feet wide,
allowing a man to walk erect, and constructed of brick laid in

Outlet of an Original Sewer; put in about 1848, Banks nearby are much cluttered

cement, and of stone masonry, passes under, and four feet below,
the bed of the canal," following the course of a natural ravine.
Sewage from this outlet — shown on the next page — goes
directly into river water which extends up to the sewer at all times
and obviates any serious objections.

The principal outlet for the section of Lawrence that is north
of the Merrimack River and west of the Boston and Maine Rail-
road is under a fishway at the north end of the Broadway bridge.
It is called the Water Street outlet. An open channel extends

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228 LAWRENCE SURVEY

about 200 feet to the low-water course of the river. This channel
becomes obstructed by the high run of the river nearly every
Spring, and the City fails to keep it properly cleaned out. Its
condition has caused objections in years past. At the time of our
inspection I noted that : pools of stagnant sewage exist ; the channel
is more or less divided so that it is difficult to trace the exact course
that is followed by the sewage from the outlet to the River; many
of the rocks and ledges are moist and slimy, and some have thick
coatings of dry and hardened sewage.

A Sewer Outlet in the rear of the Pacific Mills. This Sewer
took the place of the old Stone Sewer that was built
by the Essex Company about 1848 or earlier

Across the river there is an outlet known as the South Broad-
way or Shanty Pond sewer outlet. From this outlet a cast iron
pipe extends part way out to deep water. The purpose of this
30-inch pipe is to serve for ordinary flows. During storms, when
the sewer runs more than half full, it discharges through the
upper portion of the cross section directly at the river wall. Thus
this extension improves conditions somewhat, and undoubtedly has
advantages over the method of extending an open channel as in
the case of the Water Street sewer. Yet, for low water conditions,
this extension does not reach to running water. Further instances
of bad conditions along the banks of this River are shown by the
following photographs: One represents the condition at the Os-

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SEWAGE 'DISPOSAL 229

good Street Sewer Outlet, the other the south bank of the river
near this same outlet. These are not exceptional localities, but
typical of many places ; vegetation, earth and rocks are coated with
sewage deposit.

A Sewer Outlet at Osgood Street

Vegetation, earth and rocks are coated with sewage deposit

It is impossible to examine the sewage disposal system in a
manufacturing city without being seriously impressed with the
importance of providing some improved method of taking care
of the extensive wastes from manufacturing plants.

Here in Lawrence these wastes come from a variety of

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230 LAWRENCE SURVEY

industries, and are augmented by the wastes from three leading
types, namely, from dyehouses, paper mills, and wool scouring
plants. It is difficult to show without artificial colors the charac-
teristics of these waste products. At times they are a pronounced
dark purple color that affects the shade of the water even to the
middle of the stream. This color was particularly noticeable at
the time the wall photograph was taken of the Parker Street Outlet.

View from Upper Railroad Bridge looking down stream, July, 191 1, during
dry weather flow and showing exposed banks and bed of River

Again even with equal pollution, the color is lighter in shade and
less noticeable. Most of these liquid wastes mingle with the
water so that the discoloration extends to considerable depth.
One of the serious forms which remains a long while on the
surface is that from wool scouring. The general view of the
river shown by the photograph taken from the upper railroad
bridge, and looking down the river, indicates plainly the white

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SEWAGE DISPOSAL 231

streak of wool scouring waste that extends from the shore down
the stream several hundred feet.

Another photograph shows wool scouring waste from the
new Wood Mill of the American Woolen Company. Even in this
modern mill with its excellent equipment, it has not been found
practicable to dispose of this wool grease in any better way than
discharging it into the open river.

The whole question of economical and reasonable disposal of
waste from manufacturing plants is an engineering problem that
has grown in importance tremendously in the last few years.
Regulation or supervision of some sort is almost certain to come
in the near future. The Massachusetts State Board of Health is
studying the question, and especially in connection with the
sanitary questions that concern the disposal of sewage for the
cities of Lowell, Lawrence and Haverhill. Immediate restrictions
are not likely to be enacted, but some improvement will doubtless
be asked for.

Wool scouring waste from the rear of the Wood Mill shown
by the scum and white streak far out on the River

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232

LAWRENCE SURVEY

Colored Dye Waste and Sewage flowing onto the River Bank
near Parker Street

OUTLETS FOR SEWAGE

AND MANUF>

VCTURING Wi

Area Drained
Sq. Miles

\STES

SOUTH SIDE MERRIMAC RIVER

Size

Approximate

Population

Culvert for Wood Mill,

27 in. X 24 in.

(Manufacturing waste)

Sewer Pipe in rear of Wood Mill

5 in. diam.

Osgood Street

54 " "

0.27

3Ms

Waste Outlet rear E. Frank Lewis

Scouring Mill

" 44 " "

Parker Street

30 " "

0.31

4»275

Outlet below upper R. R Bridge

18 " "

0.045

572

South Broadway (Shanty Pond)

70 " "
(extension 30 in.)

0.29

4,121

NORTH SIDE MERRIMAC RIVER

Water Street

2 of 30 in.

0.64

10,663

Upper Pacific

Lower Pacific

60 in. diam.

0.29

16,291

Washington Mills

60 •* *•

0.09s

3,466

Garden Street in Spicket River

69 " "

2.166

44,764

Canal Street

24 in. X 30 in.

.085

SCO

High Street

12 in. diam.

.006

River Street

32 in. X 40 in.

.08

870

Poor Farm

10 in. diam.

.22

1,140

Conditions above the dam where the water is held at more
nearly a constant level, the river banks are not so objectionable.
It will be seen that only a few sewers empty into the river above
the dam. These are mostly of six and eight-inch sizes, and serve
for street drains, carrying no house sewage. This part of the

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SEWAGE DISPOSAL 233

River is used less than formerly for boating, but on the south side
there is still a building for a canoe club that serves as an important
center. Should boating again come more in favor, this part of the
river is likely to become far more popular. Below the dam, if
the channel should be dredged to the sea the river would be much
used for boating. It is possible, as the city grows, the banks
could be used for esplanades or parkways or playgrounds for
children. The need of improvement along these banks is almost
certain to become more pressing each year, and, in the immediate
future, the City must doubtless take action in the matter.

The Spicket River.

The Spicket River, which flows from the Arlington Mills at
the Methuen line through North Lawrence and joins the Merri-
mack just below the principal industries of the city, has been the
cause of complaint and criticism during the past twenty years.

After the completion of the intercepting sewer along its
banks in 1886, for several years the river was not offensive, but
remained clean and unobjectionable. But as the Arlington Mills
prospered and enlarged, they entirely outgrew the drainage that
had been provided for them, and, instead of dyehouse wastes
flowing into the intercepting sewer as originally planned, these
wastes were allowed to flow directly into the Spicket River. This
added more pollution than the volume of water in the River could
carry away, and conditions previous to 19 10 became almost unbear-
able, especially during summer months. In 191 1, however, changes
have been completed in the sewerage system so that the dyehouse
wastes from the mill now all run into the main intercepting sewer,
and none of the mill wastes reach the Spicket above the sewer
outlet at Garden Street.

As a result of this improvement hardly any odor has been
noticeable during the past summer from this water. Below Garden
Street, improvements, however, are still needed.

I have made a personal examination of the conditions along
the River by traversing its entire length within the city limits.

The following photographs will give some idea of the con-
ditions. Below the outlet at Garden Street, the River carries a

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234 LAWRENCE SURVEY

There are two Sewer Outlets and general waste along the Bank at the
Paper Mill near Marston Street

Overflow Sewer and Main 69-inch Sewer Discharge under the Garden Street

Bridge. On opposite side of the River is the Outlet of the Sewer

from the Lawrence General Hospital

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SIlWAGE disposal 235

large amount of pollution. The water has a foul odor under
ordinary conditions. The banks are also foul and obnoxious.
They are used as dumping grounds for rags, paper, bricks and
piles of dirt, much of which is thrown out from paper mills along
the river.

Adjoining the International Paper Mill and opposite Marston
Street there are two sewer outlets onto the banks of the river, and
the photo on page 234 shows the way waste materials litter the
banks in many other places.

At the Garden Street outlet, at the time of my visit on Satur-
day afternoon, September 30th, 191 1, a considerable part of the
river was dry. The rocks and shores were slimy and
slippery due to the foul condition of the water. Upstream from
the sewer outlet, at the time of my inspection, October 12th, the
water of the river was fairly free from sewage and without
serious odor. The principal objections were along the banks of
the Spicket. These were unprotected over most of the distance
and were cluttered by all sorts of rubbish and filth. In many places,
not only are the banks of the river used as waste grounds for
back yards of tenements, but besides, the city is using one portion

Refuse Dumping Grounds of City in rear of tenements at Brook Street

as a dumping ground for ashes and rubbish. This is at Brook
Street, and the photo, taken in the rear of several tenement houses,
shows the cluttered condition of ashes, rags, papers, and tin cans.

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236 LAWRENCE SURVEY

I counted thirty children trying to use these banks as a playground.
Amid these cluttered surroundings, they necessarily expose them-
selves to diseases that are transmissible through dirt. As in the
case of the Merrimack, important objections to conditions along
these banks concerns the question of breeding-places here afforded
to flies. In many places there were decaying fruit and vegetables,
and piles of manure, which would form suitable places for flies,
and, in providing for the extinction of flies, sufficient improvement
should be made to insure the health of children, and both^of these
improvements can be brought about without large expenditure.

Although the public health is not directly affected by the
clutter of bricks, wood, iron, old trees, tumbled-down shanties,
tall weeds, and bushes, as found along this river, yet, it is believed
that these conditions do," however, materially lessen the value of
adjoining property, and, from the investment side alone, it should
pay to clean up these banks and maintain them in conditions which
would attract residents. The banks should be cleared, rubbish
removed, weeds cut, and all combustibles burned, the earth graded
off, and grass slopes maintained, so that mosquito breeding-places
would be lessened and opportunity provided for children to play
along the river banks without undue danger of catching disease.

The view on next page shows the varying width of the river
east from Newbury Street; and lastly is shown a section of the
river east of Bennington Street. This illustrates the possibility of
improvement. Here the channel has been straightened, the banks
graded, and willow and birch trees are growing. It has been
fenced in, and is not used for a dumping ground.
- I believe that- similar improvements can well be made the
entire length of. the river, and it would then be known as an
attractive stream, rather than a disagreeable open sewer, as it is
now regarded.' -

Garbage Disposal.

Garbage commonly includes waste pieces of vegetables, fruit,
meat and spoiled foods taken from kitchens of dwellings,
restaurants, hotels or stores.

Previous to the year 1904, various methods were tried for

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GARBAGE DISPOSAL 237

Varying width of Channel east from Newbury Street

The Banks have been straightened , Willow and Birch Trees allowed to grow
and the area has been fenced in and no longer used for dumping

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238 LAWRENCE SURVEY

disposing of garbage. The records of the Board of Health for
1881 state that the garbage was sold for $4.67 per cord; in 1888,
for $2.25; in 1897, it was given away and the receiver did the
collecting. In 1900, the City was obliged to pay $1150 for having
it carted away, and not including the collection of it from houses.
But beginning in 1904, a less expensive plan for disposing of
it was adopted. The present method is to collect the garbage in
city teams, deliver it to the city stables, from there it is taken by
a contractor who bargains for the year's supply. Collections are
made from residences once a week, and the city is using for this
purpose five teams vwith water-tight tanks. Two thousand dollars
a year is paid to the city for the garbage as delivered at the city
stables. The contractor feeds a small part of it to his own swine,
and sells the rest to farmers in Methuen. Considerable garbage,
however, from hotels, boarding-houses and restaurants is sold by
the proprietors directly to individuals independently of the City.
These collectors are required to have a license, and they must have
receptacles or wagons that do not leak. The present method of
disposing of the garbage for a revenue of $2000 a year appears
to be all that could be expected at the present time. From a
sanitary point of view, however, it will be readily understood by
good housekeepers that once a week is not often enough for col-
lections. Decay and putrification is apt to become a serious menace
when a garbage pail with its kitchen swill is left standing for a
week in hot days. In cities that are making crusades against the
house fly, as in Brooklyn, N. Y., Brookline, Mass., and a great
many of the Southern cities, garbage is removed, at least, twice
a week. Garbage pails of metal with tight-fitting covers are used
and chloride of lime or similar purifier is applied to any decaying
materials that cannot be put in cans or covered with earth.

Disposal of Store Wastes.

The city has at present three teams, that collect waste
paper from stores and shops, and deliver it to a shed at the
city stables. Here enough assorting is done to separate dirt and
valueless waste from the rest of the material. This portion is
taken away by a contractor, who disposes of it, if he so desires,

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LOCATION OF DUMPING GROUNDS

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GARBAGE DISPOSAL 239

on dumps that are being used by the City. The same contractor
also removes from here all paper, rags, strings, burlap, excelsior
and store waste, just as it is collected. For the privilege of having
these materials, he removes the valueless wastes to dumping
grounds as mentioned above, and, for consideration of receiving
the rest of the material, he pays the city $505 per year. The .amount
of valueless store waste is so large that serious attention must be
given by the City to obtain available dumping grounds.

Dumping Grounds for Refuse:

The City has had no definite plan in disposing of ashes and
rubbish ; it has been used for filling various lots of land in different
parts of the city. The general plan has been, as the city has grown,
to each year find some space that would serve as a dumping ground
for the time being. The sites that are being used at the present
time are shown on Plate 6.

B, D, and F are the most important places that are available
for future dumping. B is located on Jackson Street just across
the line in Methuen and serves for the eastern part of the City, but
the space that it was first proposed to fill has been covered, and it
is only by an extension beyond these limits that additional space
is obtained temporarily.

D serves for the westerly part of the city, and, although it
has been a large area, it was estimated in July that its remaining
capacity was 10,000 loads or one-fourth of a year for the whole
city. If used for sections that now dump at B and C, but which
must immediately use new localities, this space would serve less
than a year. The neighborhood near D is materially depreciated
for residences by disagreeable odors emanating from materials
dumped here, and on account of the prevalence of flies that breed
in such places.

The dumping grounds at F, located in North Andover
near the Shawsheen River, are the ones that are counted upon for
future dumping. The property belongs to a man who is allowing
the ground to be filled in, and will probably permit a continuance.
There are no houses in the immediate neighborhood, and dumping
would not be as objectionable as at D, for instance. The distance

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240 LAWRENCE SURVEY

of this dumping ground from City Hall is two miles, and it is
proposed to haul here by auto trucks.

The space here available was estimated by the owner and
my assistant, as seventeen, acres, with a fill of twelve feet, and
five acres, with an average fill of four feet.

la 1908, there were removed 38,595 cartloads of ashes and
refuse; in 1909, 38,104; in 1910, 38,471. Allowing 1.8 cubic
yards per load, would mean that the grounds at F would serve
the whole city approximately five years.

Thus it is seen that another question of importance before
the City is the provision for adequate disposal of refuse. Shall
dumping grounds be maintained, and even a greater haul than two
miles be planned for, or shall the City establish some form of
incineration? The proper disposal of waste materials through
sewers, from factories, and by ash barrels, and garbage pails,
involves sanitary questions that should not longer be met by
primitive methods. A city of the size of Lawrence cannot afford
to pursue those methods of sewer and garbage disposal that are
fast being displaced in other cities. I believe that the engineering
problems incident to the Merrimack River, the Spicket River, and
the present garbage disposal methods must all, in the next few
years, have thorough overhauling and distinct improvements.

Better sanitary conditions of the milk supply, better garbage
disposal, and more healthful conditions along the Merrimack and
the Spicket Rivers are improvements that depend primarily upon
accomplishments of the Board of Health.

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BOARD OF HEALTH

General Duties of a Board of Health :

The Board of Health should be especially charged with the
care and promotion of public health; but in a broad sense almost
every act of a human being is related, in one way or another,
with ** health;." and evidently some limit must be set to the duties
that are assigned to the average Board of Health.

The Duties of Boards of Health :

In general the duties include principally those questions that
relate to sickness and health of the individual, singly and collect-
ively, but in some cities, the Health Department includes, not only
the multifarious duties incumbent upon ordinary Boards of Health,
but, besides, regulations for the location of soap factories, tanneries,
horse and cow stables ; the blowing of steam whistles ; the ringing
of church bells; and the smoke and soot from chimneys; the size
of yard spaces; widths of alleys and streets; the heating facilities
in public halls, and dwelling houses ; the amount of window space
and means of artificial lighting; the ventilation of public halls,
work rooms, and sleeping-rooms; and, in some cities, the duties
of the Street Department devolve upon the Board of Health. It
has been believed that dust of the street may transmit tuberculosis,
sore throat, pink eye, colds, scarlet fever, mumps, and diphtheria,
and thus very properly come under the control of the Health
Department, but scientists now place less weight on the dust theory.
We are finding that these diseases are transmitted, either by direct
contact, by flies, or through milk, water, raw vegetables, and so
on, and that street dust has little direct relation to disease.

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242 LAWRENCE SURVEY

The Lawrence Board of Health.

In Lawrence, the Department has in previous years included :
teams and men employed in the collection of garbage, ashes and
waste papers from stores and dwelling houses; the removal of
waste fish, rotten eggs, and decayed vegetables from wholesale
houses; dead dogs and cats from streets and alleys, the emptying
of private-privy vaults and cesspools; men employed as inspectors
of plumbing in new buildings and in old buildings; of drains be-
tween street sewers and buildings; men employed in tracing out
infectious diseases; posting notices of these diseases at the
dwellings; afterwards fumigating the premises; men at the
general office of the Board making a record of diseases, issuing
licenses or permits for cemeteries, slaughter houses, stables, for
places to keep live fowl, for the privileges of street peddlers to
sell vegetables and fish; others to carry on the business of under-
takers, or plumbers, of drain-pipe layers, and so on; and issuing
licenses for the privilege of making ice cream that is to be
furnished to the public, and for selling milk; finally, a corps of
school physicians who examine the eyesight, teeth, sense of hearing,
and cases of infectious diseases as found among school children.

Here are far too many and diversified duties for a Board of
Health to administer properly and still have time and money left
for its legitimate field. In American cities, our Boards of Health
are not composed of specialists; we have plain, every-day citizens
who take up the duties for a few years, then give way to new
members. This is particularly true in Lawrence. We have had
eighteen different members of the Board since the beginning of
1900, — in twelve years, — and nine different chairmen. Of the
eighteen members, seven had some previous experience as
physicians ; at one time one was a drug clerk ; but, of the other ten,
none are reported to have had any training that specially qualified
them for passing upon matters of Public Health.

List of members of the Board of Health since the beginning
of 1900:

1900 — Dr. F. W. Kennedy, chairman; Emil C. Stiegler, furniture
dealer; Aime D. V. Bourget, clothing salesman.

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BOARD OF HEALTH 243

1901 — Dr. F. W. Kennedy, chairman; Emil C Stiegler, Aime
D. V. Bourget.

1902 — Aime D. V. Bourget, chairman ; Dr. F. W. Kennedy,

Emil C. Stiegler.

1903 — Aime D. V. Bourget, chairman ; Dr. F. W. Kennedy,

William Burger, cigar manufacturer.

1904 — William Burger, chairman; Dr. F. W. Kennedy, Aime

D. V. Bourget.

1905 — Dr. Frederick W. Kennedy, chairman; Dr. Carl H. Eidam,

Aime D. V. Bourget.

1906 — Dr. Carl H. Eidam, chairman ; Dr. F. W. Kennedy, Aime

D. V. Bourget.

1907 — Aime D. V. Bourget, chairman; Dr. Carl H. Eidam, Dr.

F. W. Kennedy.

1908 — Dr. Carl H. Eidam, chairman; Aime D. V. Bourget,

William H. Fennell, pharmacy business.

1909 — Charles H. Bossier, provision business, chairman; Dr.

Peter L. McKallagat, William H. Fennell (to March 2),
Ralph A. Brackett, plumbing business (March 2 to end
of year).

1910 — C. H. Bossier, chairman; Dr. Peter L. McKallagat, Ralph

A. Brackett (all removed April 11) ; no board from April
II to June 22 ; Dr. William J. Sullivan, chairman; William
A. Meagan, foreman paper mill ; and one vacancy, June 22
to end of year.

191 1 — William A. Meagan, chairman to October; Dr. J. H.
Tobin to July; Charles P. Garneau, clerk, provision
business, to October; Dr. Patrick J. Hughes, September
to end of year; Henry Ragot, driver, October to end of
year.

1912 — Joseph Harris, jeweler, chairman; Charles H. Petit,
clothier; Dr. George W. Dow, City Physician.

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244 LAWRENCE SURVEY

Associated with the Board of Health have been the following
Inspectors of Milk since 1900 :

1900-1905 — M. A. Scanlon, real estate and insurance business.

1906 — Dr. Patrick J. Hughes, physician.

1907 — Dr. Fred G. Bushold, physician.
1907-1908 — Eugene A. McCarthy, insurance business.
1909-1911 — Dr. Thomas H. Collins, physician.

191 1 to date — Dr. John H. Tobin, physician.

The records of the Board of Health show that, in 1910, there
were forty meetings, occupying sixty-nine and one-half hours, an
average of one and three-quarters hours each. One member (Dr.
McKallagat) was absent ten full meetings and two parts of
meetings out of nineteen. Otherwise, there were no absences of
any members during the year. In 191 1, there were forty meetings,
occupying about sixty-one hours, or an average of one and one-half
hours each. There have been but four absences and no member
absent more than twice. The time thus devoted to meetings should
have been ample to produce definite and valuable results.

An examination of the records show that foremost in the
deliberation of the Board has been the subject of licenses for
stables. Whether Polando Abrahams shall be allowed to keep two
horses or three? That's a question to incite even a dormant Board
of Health. In 1910, of thirty-six hours used in meetings, over half
of the time was given to questions of stables, and, in 191 1, nearly
one-half of the time was similarly used. It would appear that
the Boards had gone daffy over the question of the number of
horses, hens or goats that citizens should keep. Contrast the above
with the time and effort given to essential Board of Health matters ;

During 1910 and 191 1, the subject of milk has received atten-
tion at five meetings each year, and ten hours in the two years;
three-fourths of that time was consumed in discussing the question
of inefficiency of Dr. Collins as milk inspector. At one meeting,
it was argued, at another argued and postponed because of insuffi-
cient notice, at another, because of death in his family, finally a
hearing given, then his removal effected, and another inspector

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BOARD OF HEALTH 245

elected. An efficient Board would have required not over two
meetings to have acted upon that whole matter.

Any Board must be willing to stand upon its record; and its
record must be held open to the public. I have examined with an
open mind the records of each meeting for the past two years. I
have talked with city officials and many citizens, and I must admit
that I can find little to commend, but much to criticise. The time
and energy of the various Boards have evidently been given to
matters of small importance. There has not been a broad view,
a survey of essentials that control public health. The view point
has been in the small, individual, restricted way. For years,
Lawrence has not had what we should at the present time consider
an efficiently organized and conducted Board of Health, and that
leads us to an important question for brief consideration: What
should a Board of Health accomplish?

To accomplish the most, it is acknowledged that politics and
Board-of-Health measures should be distinctly and positively separ-
ated. Past members of the Board — sorne of them excellent men
— assert that politics has often been a hindrance to the proper
work of the Board; that the best possible plans would be thwarted
by some one " higher up.'' After a careful study of the situation
during 191 1, for the purpose of eliminating politics and improving
general conditions, I suggested to the new government the estab-
lishment of a department of Sanitation and the transference to
another department of the Inspection of Plumbing. This re-organ-
ization is indicated by the next page, which shows the duties of the
City departments divided in accordance with the new charter
beginning 19 12.

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246

LAWRENCE SURVEY

Lawrence City Departments

MAYOR

Finance and
Public Affairs

Engineering

Public Safety

Public Property

Public Health
AND Charities

Treasurer

Auditing

Purchasing

Assessing

Sinking funds

Tax collection

Claims

Registration of voters

City clerk

Legal

Highways and other ways

Street watering

Sewers and drains (including licenses to drain-pipe layers)

Water and water works

Bridges

Engineering

Police

Fire

Lighting

Wiring

Weights and measures

Conduits

Buildings

Parks

Public grounds

Inspection of buildings

Inspection of plumbing i

Sanitation 2

Removal of ashes and waste material

Removal of garbage, dead animals and decayed veg-
tables

Cleaning of privy vaults, cesspools
Poor
Board of Health

City Physician

Public Hospitals

Diseases

Foods ; meats, provisions

Licenses ; stables, peddling fish and vegetables

Milk ; inspection and regulations

Reports on cases of infectious diseases, of births and
deaths

1. Ini; ection of plumbing has heretofore been under the Board of Health.

2. Suggestion for the establishment of this department has been adopted.

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BOARD OF HEALTH 247

An Efficient Board of Health :

The specific duties of a Board of Health, organized with a
view of concentrating its work solely on essential elements of
Public Health, should be:

To determine the extent of disease.

The distribution of disease over the City, and among nation-
alities.

To examine into the diseases of children and infantile mor-
tality.

The origins and causes of smallpox, tuberculosis, typhoid
fever, scarlet fever, infantile paralysis, and other communicable
diseases.

To determine the means by which each epidemic of any of
the above diseases is transmitted — by flies, pet animals, through
the medium of water, milk, raw vegetables, raw oysters, and so on.

To advance methods to prevent the recurrence of epidemics of
communicable, or " catching," diseases.

To prevent the adulteration of foods and drinks.

To bring to the notice of the prosecuting authorities all failures
to comply with measures that have been lawfully prescribed for the
promotion of public health.

To regulate the milk supply, approve of sources of production,
the methods of handling, of distributing to consumers, prescribe
standards of quality, make laboratory tests, issue licenses for the
sale of milk.

To regulate similarly the ice-cream supply.

To prescribe and enforce sanitary requirements for creameries,
bakeries, stores and markets.

To secure reports of infectious diseases, of births, and deaths.

What sort of men are needed to carry forward effectively a
city Department of Health :

Not merely the family doctor, a detective of disease, a quar-
antine officer; medical training alone does not fit men for this
service. The work is not primarily curing disease, it is that of
prevention. Men are needed who know; (a) mathematics, — ^to
anaylze statistics relating to the sick and the dead, thus to show
what forces of disease are prevailing, and where the attack is next

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248 LAWRENCE SURVEY

likely to be made; (b) engineering, — to provide against impure
air and infected water, to dispose properly of garbage and sewag-e,
and to maintain clean streets and alleys; (c) chemistry, — to pro-
tect the public against the sale of adulterated and poisonous foods
or beverages; (d) bacteriology, — to discover the germs of disease,
provide antitoxins, and detect impurities in milk and other food ;
(e) law, — to interpret common law, to prescribe rules and regula-
tions that can be lawfully enforced. And withal the duties of the
health officer, there should be education, that the people may learn
the arts of hygiene, and the principles of right living.

" Perfect health," says the Report of the Survey of 1850,
" gives to its possessor strength, energy, power, buoyancy of spirit,

happiness It is under the control of public authority and

public administration that life and health may be saved or lost,
and they are actually saved or lost, as this authority is wisely or
unwisely exercised."

Lawrence has been a leader in methods of water filtration;
why should it not become a leader with an effective Board of
Health — to prevent disease, advance the principles of hygiene, and
direct the people in ways of better health ?

Infectious Diseases by Wards.

A study of the prevalence of infectious diseases has been made
for the purpose of determining whether these diseases are more
common in densely-populated wards or in thinly-settled and
residential wards. The three diseases selected were typhoid fever,
scarlet fever, and diphtheria. The records of the Board of Health,
although brief and unsystematic, were fairly definite and complete
regarding these three diseases. An attempt was made to include
also tuberculosis, but the records of that disease, even for 1910,
show 122 deaths against 121 cases reported, and I was told by a
district nurse of one of the life insurance companies that, in her
experience, tuberculosis in insufficiently reported, and the dangers
of the disease are constantly ignored. Diphtheria and typhoid run
more virulently and are reported more thoroughly. Scarlet fever
is commonly recognized as a communicable, or " catching " dis-
ease, and is reported better than measles or whooping cough.

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BOARD OF HEALTH 249

In order to determine the distribution of these diseases —
typhoid, scarlet fever and diphtheria — a chart of large size was
first plotted, showing the cases for 1910. Wherever the plotting
showed a cluster of diseases, the question of relation of such to
density of population was investigated. Eight sections were
selected over various part of the city, the number of cases counted,
— ranging from six to thirty-four, — and compared with the popu-
lation, giving the number of cases from 2.1 to 33.1 per 1,000
population. To my surprise, for all of the sections thus examined, /
the percentages ran higher for the thinly settled areas than for the /
densely populated. Although this unexpected result was not \
decisive, still it seemed to call for further investigation. I,
therefore, plotted a map — see Plate 10 — to show the Density
of Population for the whole City. This map was made from data
obtained from insurance maps and from the Housing Survey of
Mr. Todd. It was found that nearly half of the total population
of the city live within half a mile of the Common. Ward i con-
tains one crowded section, but the greater part of the ward is
residential; Wards 2, 3, and 4 are crowded and are considered
congested; Ward 5 comprises a large area and is less crowded;
while Ward 6 has been recently built up and contains practically
no congested areas. To show the rates of cases of the above
diseases in these Wards, I next plotted Plates 7 and 8. These
diagrams cover the years from 1905 to 1910. The average number
of cases per 1,000 population is shown by the heavy line; above the
heavy line means a higher rate; an unfavorable condition, repre-
sented by the dark area; below the heavy line, a favorable condi-
tion, represented by the light area. The anomalous answer is here
noticeable again; namely. Wards 3 and 4, crowded wards, have
the smallest number of cases ; Wards 2 and 5 have average amounts ;
and Wards i and 6, residential wards, have had excessive amounts,
especially Ward i, which has exceeded the average each year.

To verify these results still further, I had the records of the
Board of Health re-examined, a careful curve plotted to show the
probable population of years between census takings, and again the
evidence was plain that the residential Wards i and 6 show greater
rate of these diseases than the crowded Wards 3 and 4; and to

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PLATE 7

«0 7

V\//9Ro Two

Ca.$m* rmpar

^rd Z _

►-*

^"T"^

*r4,j€. cfall MAr/

is '

•I

J30S

/BOe . i907 /9oa /909

Dark ^hotihti %$tea9 indicate an incre-'ase in the. rate of cases as
rejsorted, aboi/e the auera^e cffa// l^ardsr/lnunfwcrabh condition.

/BiO

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t907

t9oa

/909

PLATE 8.

Ij;

«0

I-

i9y ^ppro/!inatfon<s frotn the. V\^hits Fund

♦

D/acfrarns showm^ Rate. Ay Wards

w^Ro /-/i/^ INFECTIOUS oiseAises

7'u/bho/c/ fhuer, Diphtheria, ^cartet Fei/er

Prepared from Citt^ Records for

Report Oh inyesft^ation of Public Health

ySept 1911

ftvmroae.

of aft »Voidtr.

Stu^mA (SjJj^'otc^Tr^fy^C.^

«0

Q«oW/y^Ac/r^^.ZW.

iBOS /SOS /B07 iBOe iBOS

Li^ht shaded areas indicate a decrease in the rate of
cases beloy*f the aueraae cfall ^an/sr^ fat/prahh conditien.

iBiO

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252 LAWRENCE SURVEY

ascertain if these diseases are reported as well in one ward as
another, I consulted the agent of the Board of Health, who has
had many years of experience in investigating diseases, and he
believed that the various wards report equally well ; a district nurse
corroborated that view, and also some of the physicians of the city.

It is not claimed that the foregoing analysis offers conclusive
proof that infectious diseases are more prevalent in outlying
districts than in crowded; it does seem, however, to indicate
positively that in Lawrence for the past six years, the thinly
settled wards have had more cases of these diseases — scarlet fever,
typhoid, and diphtheria — per i,ooo population, than the crowded
wards.

This result is contrary to generally accepted rules; it disturbs
some of our popular theories, and it calls for explanation. The
answer seems to be that these three diseases enter the human body,
not through dust and vitiated air of tenements,' but probably
through the medium of water and milk. And water and milk
would be just as plentiful and just as much infected with disease
in outlying as in crowded districts. If the transmission of these
diseases can thus be traced to water and milk, — which is the
conclusion of modern science, — can we not find by similar
investigations the medium for tuberculosis, for pneumonia, and for
infantile paralysis? Are these diseases more frequent in crowded
tenements or in outlying sections? These are questions that
deserve prompt attention of our Boards of Health. What answers
shall we have from the Lawrence Board? What will it do in the
immediate future to discover the causes of diseases, to check their
transmission, and to establish Lawrence as a leader in the pro-
motion of public health?

Recommendations for the Board of Health:

The following recommendations are submitted for the atten-
tion of the Board of Health, and for such effective endorsement as
may be found practicable:

Keep the work of the Department limited and free of politics.

Concentrate half of time and expenditure, for the next few
years, on the Milk question.

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BOARD OF HEALTH 253

Make sanitary inspections of milk bottling and ice cream
plants.

Have farms inspected by own inspectors, by the State's, or
by other means that may become practicable.

Classify milk as certified, inspected milk heated, and market
milk heated.

Require all milk that is not certified to be scientifically heated,
or pasteurized, beginning 19 14.

Advocate a central milk plant for heating, or pasteurizing of
milk, bottling it, and from which it may be delivered to consumers.

Ascertain the principal breeding-places of flies, at garbage
dumping grounds, sewage banks of the Merrimack and Spicket
Rivers, vacant lots, back yards of dwellings.

Find where, in the city, each disease prevails most; which
parts of the city have least sickness, and which most.

It is- believed that the Board of Health can profitably in-
vestigate the above questions, that it is possible to produce results
along many of these lines that would be of benefit to the city,
but for material success, two important conditions will be necessary :

1. An efficiently organized Health Department.

2. Support from the general public.

Regarding (i) the organization of the Department, it is fair
to say that the beginning of 19 12 under the new charter indicates
an improvement; there seems to be a broader policy, more activity
and business-like methods. The results of public officials can best
be judged near the end of their term of office. Pressure upon
pressure is brought to bear that will swerve many an office holder
from the straight and true course that he had planned in the be-
ginning. Sharp and insistent criticism is needed when city officials
let go their grip, put aside their promises, and allow their depart-
ment to collapse, but also commendation should be given freely and
liberally when officials are honest, straightforward, and, stand up
boldly against intrigue.

Before the present Board of Health was appointed to office,
the writer suggested that it would be well to have meniibers who
possessed the following qualifications, and, whenever it is found

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254 LAWRENCE SURVEY

to be practicable, these qualifications can well receive favorable
consideration :

Have one member who is competent and willing to devote
himself principally to questions that concern Vital Sta-
tistics and records of the office.

One member who is familiar with the Milk Question,
and will consider broadly and effectively both the
farmers' side and the consumers'. ' -

One member who will investigate diseases, sanitation of
buildings, healthfulness of various modes of life.

Each year a member should be chosen for a term of three
years. Also there should be in the employ of the Department a
few men as field inspectors or laboratory assistants who have- been
trained as sanitarians. As explained in a preceding paragraph, the
men needed to carry forward effectively a City Department of
Health should in these days have special training. Two employees
thus trained could, at the present time, be profitably employed in
the field, and laboratory.

(2) Support from the general public is necessary in the case
of the Health Department. Poor streets mean inconvenience,
financial loss to the city, but poor health means stupor, loss of life.
The public in Lawrence have not, heretofore, watched with
sufficient care the acts of the Boards of Health, nor the relation of
the Department to the rest of the city.

I submit in Plate 9 a graphical representation of the ex-
penditures of the City for 1910. Note the black area which shows
the relatively small amount that was expended strictly for public
health. For that year, streets and paving together received
$360,377.16; less than one-fourth of that amount, or $81,054.75'
was spent by the Health Department, andj finally, excluding the
cost of disposing of ashes and garbage, the expenditures for
essential health measures is estimated as $20,000, or one-eighteenth
of the amount for streets and paving.

In 191 1, the appropriations for the Department were $65,000,
but the expenditures were $106,478.30, of which about $25,000
was for essential public health measures. The Department of

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PLATE 8.
SSOOOO too 000 tSOOOO eoOOOO ZSOOOO 300000 4^30 OOO

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EXPENDiTURES OF CiTY DEPARTMENTS

From Special /Juditors Report
The black area shokus the re/at/i/e/u ^maU amount that is
ex joenc/Gc/ For essentia/ Pub/ic t/ea/th measures

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256

LAWRENCE SURVEY

Health does not need large appropriations; $50,000, or one-half
of the amount that is provided for Police, for Fire, or for Water,
carefully expended, would place the Department to the front in
service for the city, but the public has a right to expect the money
to be properly expended for the general up-building of health con-
ditions throughout the whole city; rich and poor should be
benefitted, native-born and foreigners must be protected ; " public ''
means the whole people; the service of the Department must be
for all, and the success or failure of the Board must be judged
by all. It is Public Health that concerns us and to emphasize this
inter-dependent relation between the public and health is an im-
portant purpose of this Survey. The new health department has
excellent opportunities, and the people can justly expect results
that will be noteworthy and generally beneficial.

Population and Its Relation to Public Health :

A Safe Milk Supply^ and an efficient Board of Health,
would seem to be reasonable demands that could be secured in any
city. But of Lawrence we hear the excuse : It is a manufacturing
city, containing many foreigners, who cannot speak English, who
know little of our laws and customs, who do not care to become
Americanized, and who frequently are indifferent to the rules of
good health and the prevention of disease. Therefore a study of
population and the relation of foreigners to public health becomes
of moment to Boards of Health.

In fifty years Lawrence has grown from a city of 17,639
population to one of 85,892, and the increase has been surprisingly
uniform in different parts of the city.

POPULATION BY WARDS SHOWING GROWTH OF CITY SINCE 1880

Wards
1880

1
6818

2
6086

8184

7214

5
6579

4270

Total
Populaboi

39151

1890

102%
6952

1049^0
6338

1029^0
8368

127%
9147

120%
7888

'39%
5961

114%
44654

1900

141%
9804

135%
8537

120^0
10159

1289^0
11722

11821

177 fo

I05I6

140%
62599

1910

144%
14186

1589^0
^3571

1409^
14236

116%
13581

136%
16180

134%
I4I38

85S92''

Average

142%

\^20|o

130%

122%

141%

155%

1399^0

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Ward 1
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PLATE 10.

Pop. 14-/33
2097ActmS

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Map ^how/ng
DENSiTr OrPOPUL/fT/ON

Report on /ni/e^T/patlon
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BOARD OF HEALTH 257

For the past twenty years the average increase in all wards
has been 38 per cent each decade. Wards 3 and 4 have fallen
slightly below and Ward 6 has risen above the average.

The growth of population is shown by Plate 10.

If the curve of increase continues in accordance with prob-
ability based on the growth during the past forty years, the
population should become 115,000 in 1920. Plate 10 also shows
the congested areas of population. Nearly half of the total popula-
tion live within half a mile of the Common.

The ratio between native-born and foreign-born population
from 1870 to 1910 is shown by the following table:

Native

Foreign-bom

ToUl

Increase in 10

Population

Year Periods

1870

16,204

12,717

28,921

64 per cent

1880

21,885

17,266

39,151

3«;4 "

1890

24,136

' 20,518

44,654

14.1 "

1900

33.982

28,577

62,559

40.1 "

I9IO

44,573

41,319

86.892

37.3 "

Average, 38.2 *'

In 1870 there were 3500 more native-born population than
foreign-born, and at each census taking down to 19 10 there have
been between 3500 and 5500 more native population than foreign-
born.

The foreign-born population is distributed according to
country of birth as follows:

C* A
Enfllish F h ^°S^^ Germany Ireland Italy Poland Russia Scotland

1890

4459

4985

1830

7697

1079

1900

1683 6999

5131

2465

7058

936

411

780

1 198

I9I0

1792 7696

5659

2301

5943

6693

4352

1336

During the past twenty years the population that was born
in England has remained nearly stationary — about 5000; that
born in Germany has remained close to 2000; Scotland about 1200;
and the population born in Ireland has decreased from 7700 to
6000 ; while the number that were born in Canada has doubled and
those born in Russia have increased from a mere handful to over
4000, and those born in Italy to over 6000. Russian and Italian-
born now constitute one-fourth of the foreign population.

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Total

Persons of

Population

Foreign Parentage

1890

44,654

35,670 or 80 per cent

1900

62,559

51,999 " 83 "

1910

85,892

73,872 " 86 «

258 LAWRENCE SURVEY

And besides the foreign-born a considerable portion of the
population born in this country have foreign parents.

Having Foreign Fathers
and Foreign Mothers

33,052

47,279
66,791

The percentage of the population that are foreigners has
increased in thirty years from 80 per cent to 86 per cent, so that
now in the whole city of nearly 86,000 population, seven-eighth
are foreign-born or have foreign parents.

Whether native or foreign-born, American citizens look to
the city of their residence for advancement, for protection, for
education. To what extent Lawrence is fulfilling its responsibility
of government, assimilating foreigners from many countries, and
transforming them into good citizenship, could well constitute an
extended investigation beyond the scope of the present Survey.

Many of the civic agencies — the schools, the parks, the
police stations, the waterworks plants — are shown on Plate 11.
These are some of the agencies th^t benefit the City; the extent
and variety of them is noteworthy, but this Survey indicates that
the rapid growth of the City, its very prosperity in fact, beset it
with cogent problems of Housing, Public Health, Education and
Citizenship that must receive corresponding advancement.
Agencies for betterment must keep abreast of the growth of the
City, and the promotion of needed improvements.

It is not the work of the city officials alone, but churches of
all denominations, clubs and associations with members native and
foreign-born, all citizens are urged to consider the report herewith
presented and by vote or public statement to endorse such recom-
mendations as especially appeal to them.

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PLATE II.

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SUMMARY OF THE REPORT ON PUBLIC HEALTH
The Milk Supply:

The City has been giving practically no attention to the milk

supply. Page 148.
Few citizens know where the milk that they drink comes from.

Page 148.
One- fourth of it comes from Maine and Vermont towns 150 to

200 miles away. Page 152.
Milk is taken from the farms to the various railroad stations, then

transported by cars. Page 180.
Forty-five farms make up this supply from Derry. Page 176.
Each can is sampled by an inspector who takes out a spoonful and

tastes of it. Page 177.
Boxford, Methuen and North Andover lead in standards. Page 159.
In all over 600 different farms doubtless send milk to the City.

Page 160.
About how many children and adults per year must we allow to

contract sickness or death by disease in milk? Page 191.
H babies that die each year by disease and impurities in milk were

scalded to death there would be a popular uprising against

such barbarity. Page 188.
In any dairy, of first importance is method. Page 156.
An old farm scrupulously clean is better than a modern dairy care-
lessly maintained. Page 167.
The object of this investigation is to secure an improved quality

of milk. It is a movement for Clean Milk and a Fair Price

to the Farmer. Page 158.
The Farmer that can " raise " all No. i milk should get the highest

price for it. Page 188.
A list of twenty-eight dairies that were found to be supplying milk

that is produced under especially good conditions. Page 174.
A dairy that has excellent equipment and maintains excellent

methods should have associated with it a bottling plant of

equal standards. Page 180.

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26o LAWRENCE SURVEY

It is not fair to ask a farmer to maintain excellent conditions and

then have the quality of the milk that he furnishes vitiated

by careless handling in the bottling plant. Page 183.
Unfortunately many of the existing bottling plants are inferior in

standards to the farms from which they receive milk. Page 183.
I earnestly recommend that more attention be given to the sanitary

conditions of milk bottling plants. Page 202.
Plate 3 shows a proposed plan for a Modern Milk House. Page 203.
Ice Cream manufacturing is done in rooms connected with tenement

houses. Page 187.
Children from the house or from the street pass in and out of

these manufacturing rooms without restrictions. Page 187.
Not only should laboratory tests of milk be made but as with dairy

inspections I believe that the public should know the results

of these tests. Page 204.

As filters are unquestionably needed for the Lawrence water supply,
so I believe is pasteurization for the milk supply. Page 192.

Pasteurizing has become an approved method of treating milk be-
cause it destroys disease germs that the milk may contain, yet
it does not impair the quality of the milk. Page 192.

A new process has been developed by which milk is pasteurized in
sealed bottles. Page 194.

Pasteurizing by the consumer, in his own house, is possible, but
difficult to accomplish satisfactorily. Page 194.

Could the producers own and operate a central plant? Page 206.

The Association in Erie, (Penn.) I am informed by the President,
was started twelve years ago. Page 206.

It should afford the farmer a direct share in the whole profit from
dairy to household. Page 208.

The Water Supply :

The problem of transforming this impure and dangerous water
supply into a potable and safe drinking water was in reality
solved in 1893 when Slow Sand Filters were first installed.
Page 217.

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SUMMARY 261

The reduction in death rate in Lawrence compares favorably with

results that have occurred in other cities. Page 219.
I believe that it does not overstate the facts to say that, with the

present population, filtration is paving from 350 to 400 lives

every year. Page 219.
The total cost of installing all of the filters and their accessories

is given as $140,000; this outlay has been more than justified

by the reduction of typhoid in a single year. Page 221.
That measures for prevention will effect infinitely more than

remedies for the cure of disease. Page 224.
The water supply of Lawrence I believe to be as favorable to

public health as could reasonably be demanded. Page 224.

The Sewage and Garbage Disposal Methods :

Thus into the Merrimack River from nine principal outlets this
sewage is discharged. Page 225.

There seems to be no limitations in the use of this river for sewage
purposes. From bank to bank, 1000 feet in width, it is
veritably an open depository for sewage and manufacturing
waste. Page 226.

In many localities the sewage was observed in a decomposing
state on the surface of the ground where it had been deposited
by some outlet that did not properly extend to running water.
Page 226.

It is impossible to examine the sew^age disposal system in a manu-
facturing city without being seriously impressed with the
importance of providing some improved method of taking care
of the extensive wastes from manufacturing plants. Page 229.

Regulation or supervision of some sort is almost certain to come
in the near future. Page 231.

It is possible, as the city grows, that the banks could be used for
esplanades, or parkways, or playgrounds for children.
Page 233.

From the investment side alone, it should pay to clean up these
banks and maintain them in conditions which would attract
residents. Page 236.

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262 LAWRENCE SURVEY

In cities that are making crusades against the house-fly, garbage

is removed at least twice a week. Page 238.
The City has no definite plan in disposing of ashes and rubbish.

Page 239.
Shall dumping grounds be maintained and even a greater haul

than two miles be planned for, or shall the City establish some

form of incineration? Page 240.

The Board of Health :

Evidently some limit must be set to the duties that are assigned to
the average Board of Health. Page 241.

Here are far too many and diversified duties for a Board of Health
to administer properly and still have time and money left for
its legitimate field. Page 242.

We have had eighteen different members of the Board since the
beginning of 1900. Page 242.

An examination of the records show that foremost in the delibera-
tions of the Board has been the subject of licenses for stables.
Page 244.

During 1910 and 191 1 the subject of milk has received attention
at five meetings each year, and ten hours in the two years.
Page 244.

For years Lawrence has not had what we should at the present
time consider an efficiently organized and conducted Board
of Health. Page 244.

What sort of men are needed to carry forward effectively a City
Department of Health? Page 247.

Lawrence has been a leader in roethods of water filtration, why
should it not become a leader with an effective Board of
Health? Page 248.

The thinly-settled wards have had more cases of these diseases —
scarlet- fever, typhoid, and diphtheria — per thousand popula-
tion than the crowded wards. Page 252.
^The answer seems to be that these three diseases enter the human
^ body, not through dust and vitiated air of tenements, but

probably through the medium o f (water) anc^'inHKr^ Page 252.

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SUMMARY 263

Could we not find by similar investigation the medium for tuber-
culosis, for pneumonia, and for infantile paralysis? Page 252.

For material success two important conditions will be necessary:
An efficiently organized Health Department and support from
the general public. Page 253.

The expenditures for essential health measures is estimated as
$20,000, or one-eighteenth of the amount for streets and
paving. Page 254.

The new health department has excellent opportunities, and the
people can justly expect results that will be noteworthy and
generally beneficial. Page 256.

The Population and Its Relation to Public Health :

But of Lawrence, we hear the excuse : It is a manufacturing city.
Page 256.

In fifty years Lawrence has grown from a city of 17,639 popula-
tion to one of 85,892. Page 256.

At each census-taking down to 19 10 there have been between 3500
and 5500 more native population than foreign-born. Page 257.

Russian and Italian-born now constitute one-fourth of the foreign-
born population. Page 257.

And besides the foreign-born a considerable portion of the popula-
tion born in this country have foreign parents. Page 258.

Thus in the whole city of nearly 86,000 population seven-eighths
are foreign-born or have foreign parents. Page 258.

The rapid growth of the City, its very prosperity in fact, beset it
with cogent problems of Housing, Public Health, Education
and Citizenship. Page 258.

All citizens are urged to consider the report herewith presented and
by vote or public statement to endorse such recommendations
as appeal to them. Page 258.

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Full text of "The Report of the Lawrence survey; studies in relation to Lawrence, Massachusetts, made in 1911"

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